Vote yes on Mary Jansen’s proposal to lower the Mill Levy and reduce our property tax. While the amount we will recover is modest compared to the double digit inflated amount we will suffer in 2024, it is an excellent start and every little bit counts. Skyrocketing property taxes worsen the affordability of Lakewood and home ownership. Is not affordability of housing important to this council? I hear the buzz buzz about how important it is to you. Your vote is your answer. It is interesting that the council will be voting on two items tonight, one that gives lots of money to poor developers 🥲 and one that modestly helps the property owners here in Lakewood. Which will you support? Your vote shows where you stand. I hear a lot of speak from council about equity, inclusion and sustainability. Your vote is your action. Will your words and action align?

I am writing in support of this proposal and appreciate a politician who is looking to actually help the citizens she represents as opposed prioritizing the growth of the local government over the citizens. Thank you.

Reduce the 2024 property tax mil levy. If our Mayor, City Council and City Manager have billions of dollars of our tax money laying around to finance a high risk, probably illegal, sweetheart developer reimbursement welfare handout, certainly they can also reduce the 2024 property tax mil levy to help our financially struggling residents by reducing property taxes! Undoubtedly the Mayor, City Council and City staff share responsibility for the astronomical rise in housing costs due to their failure to successfully manage housing development over the last 20 years to ensure entry level, attainable housing such as duplexes and townhouses were being built in the city in adequate numbers to support our community

I respectfully encourage each of you to vote in favor of Councilor Janssen's proposal. Any relief, no matter how trite it may seem to others, is at least a step to help those who will be greatly affected by the assessments. This is one of those times that you have the opportunity and obligation to vote in favor of your constituents. Thank you in advance for your wise support and vote.

I wholeheartedly support Councilor Janssen’s proposal to reduce the Mill Levy. As always she has done the research and provided us with facts and figures to justify her position. I want to thank her for her 2 years of service and only regret that she hasn’t chosen to extend it. She has consistently put her constituents first. She is an independent thinker and a proactive member of Council who thinks outside of the box. She was never a rubberstamper and has fought valiantly to represent the voice of the people even when the majority of our representatives opposed her. I wish there were more like her. Thank you Mary for all your efforts on our behalf. Hopefully this time your fellow Council members will support you on this latest effort to ease the burden on our taxpayers.

I fully support this modest and well-researched proposed change to Lakewood's mil levy. From everything I read in it, the city is abundantly financed. Interesting that the Colfax Walmart will now be siphoning more tax dollars into the city budget. Lakewood residents have had no control over skyrocketing real estate prices that then bring skyrocketing property assessments. If the city remains blind to the plight of residents and keeps the mil levy at its current level, it doesn't have our interests foremost at all. People shudder when politicians suddenly access "blood money" - the city takes for granted that it's entitled to these funds, and finds new entitlements and new ways to reward special interests, including developers. Private home ownership is the American way of generating wealth. Increased home values do nothing for us unless we sell, and then we couldn't afford to live anywhere near! We're obliged to keep paying ever-heavier taxes on our homes at the same time inflation steals the value of our savings and while steeply increasing prices generate steeper sales taxes. Middle-income people are squeezed out. Does the city really desire families to be forced to sell? There are a host of national investors able to pay cash for homes and turn them into rentals. Who can afford to have kids when the house payment takes so much of a couple's budget? Should more schools close because there aren't enough kids attending? Lakewood, please don't be selfish and refuse to adjust the mil levy when your residents are already struggling.

RE: Councilor Janssen’s Oct. 5 mill levy reduction proposal. I have been a resident of Lakewood since 1988. I love this city for its proximity to the beautiful Colorado mountains. I respectfully & strongly urge you all to vote to reduce the mill levy as Councilor Janssen suggests. The latest property tax increase, as well as a doubling of auto & homeowner’s insurance, has put an undue strain on paying bills. Reducing my property taxes (as well as all other taxes!) would aid in my ability to survive as a retired person on a fixed income. Thank you for your time. Joseph Pero

Submitted by; City of Lakewood Councilor Mary Janssen Proposed Motion to Reduce Lakewood Mill Levy Whereas, Lakewood’s total taxable property value has increased 24.3% for year 2023 as reported by the County Assessor on August 25, 2023, and Whereas, a 24% increase in taxable values results in higher property taxes and bears undue financial harm to residents, businesses, and consumers for property tax bills payable 2024, and Whereas, Lakewood City Charter requires the 2024 budget and 2023 Mill Levy to be adopted by the first day of November, and Whereas, Lakewood City Council has the statutory duty to certify the ad valorem property tax levy to the Jefferson County Commissioners no later than December 15 each year, and Whereas, 2023 proposed ballot issue Proposition HH doesn’t include a property tax cap for the City of Lakewood or other home-rule jurisdictions, and Whereas, property taxes are a factor in housing affordability and such tax assessments should be determined/calculated to produce lower taxes to improve housing affordability and financial stability, and Whereas, the City of Lakewood has retained nearly $38 million dollars in Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) rebates due to a temporary waiver from revenue limits for years 2017-2022 which includes an additional $7 million in addition to the initial 2022 budget, and those over-collected taxes would otherwise have been refunded to taxpayers, and Whereas, prior to the temporary TABOR rebate forfeiture, the over-collected taxes were refunded by reducing the property tax levy in years 2015-2017 and reduced fees to owners in prior years, and Whereas, the City of Lakewood’s ability to withhold TABOR rebates from taxpayers extends through December 31, 2025, and Whereas the City of Lakewood did not reduce the mil level during the years from 2019 to 2022 resulting in a property tax revenue increases for the City during that period of about 24 % (about 8% incase per year), private sector salary increases were limited to 4 or 5 percent per year, creating an undue burden on property tax payers, and Whereas, the economic development agreement with Creekside Shopping Center (Wal- Mart) terminates 8/9/2024 will result in increased revenue to the city, and Whereas , City sales tax amounts collected increase automatically in conjunction with recent ongoing inflating costs of goods and services, creating increased amounts of tax revenue for the City, while compounding the burden on the sales tax payer by paying both more for the products and services, and simultaneously paying more sales taxes due to the rising prices on the goods and taxable services, and Whereas, the Lakewood City Charter 12.12 states that the City Council shall not levy an ad valorem tax on taxable property in an amount greater than was levied in the preceding year plus seven percent (7%), with exceptions, and in prior years we have exceeded 7% without any apparent adjustment, Therefore, City Councilor Mary Janssen and ________ make a motion to set the 2023 property tax levy at 3.85 mill for year payable 2024.