DENVER — Sky high property tax bills cannot be avoided.
Prop HH failed in November.
Then, in a special session, the state legislature made some minor tweaks for the bills arriving right about now.
In Johnstown, in northern Colorado, the town council just approved giving some property tax money back to residents.
“They won’t have to do anything to get the money. As long as they’ve paid their taxes, about the end of July, the first part of August, they should be getting a check in the mail,” Johnstown Mayor Troy Mellon said.
On Wednesday, the town council approved a rebate for residents. The rebate will reduce the town’s portion of their property tax bills.
Before Prop HH failed in November, Johnstown’s portion of a residential property tax bill was going to increase 35%.
After the special legislative session, the increase was going to be 24%.
Once rebate checks get sent back to residents, the Johnstown portion of the property tax bill will only have gone up 5%.
“We’re keeping 5% just for inflationary purposes,” Mellon said.
The rebate was voted on during a public hearing on Wednesday, and then sent out in a news release on Thursday. Yet, the town does not have a robust plan to make sure residents know about the rebate.
“In some respects, we haven’t completely thought through the whole process of how we’re going to notify people,” Mellon said. “I guarantee you, word will get around when people hear that they’re getting money back. That word tends to get around really quick.”
Where does gossip generally generate?
“We hear everything. Anything new that happens in town or is going to happen, it’s definitely in this shop,” Christina Hildreth said.
Hildreth is a barber at Johnstown Barber Shop on Parish Avenue.
Where customers can get a haircut, shave and news of a property tax rebate because any conversation is fair game.
“Anything that’s happening in and around town or work or personal lives,” Hildreth said.
“When I go back to the office on Monday, I will definitely be bringing it up. A lot of my co-workers live here as well,” customer Waylon Dickinson said.
Once word got to the barber shop, it was likely to leave the barber shop.
“We have enough money from other sources to do what we need to do and provide the services that we provide,” Mellon said. “This is, essentially, excess money. A windfall that we didn’t expect and we shouldn’t expect our taxpayers to bear.”
To get the rebate check, residential homeowners simply need to pay their property tax bill on time by June 15.
“It looks like about 90% of the people will get a check of more than $80,” Mellon said.
“Any refund’s better than no refund,” Dickinson said.
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