LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor: On Monday, Oct. 30, I attended the Ouray City Council budget work session. I would like to thank the council for its thoughtful consideration of taking a temporary credit for its 2024 general property tax mill levy, a proposed reduction of 3.3 mills based on a preliminary calculation by City Administrator Silas Clarke. Much deliberation by council with input from city staff went into this proposal and it will not be official until the Dec. 4 council meeting.

This is a unique moment in local government, that an entity would choose to forego collecting a portion of property tax revenue as a way of assisting all citizens experiencing inflationary economic burdens. This bit of temporary relief comes after several years of large utility rate increases that were needed to fund state-required improvements to the city’s water and sewer systems. If the council does in fact approve taking a temporary credit on its 2024 general property tax mill levy, then I pray that landlords “pass it forward” to their renters, for whom this relief could be most meaningful.

I thank the City Council and staff for listening to the perspective of its citizens and finding a way to incorporate a bit of taxing restraint, in response to the huge increase in assessed valuations of properties within the city of Ouray.

Kathy Elmont Ouray