Poudre Valley Fire Revenue Limit Waiver

The Poudre Valley Fire Protection District includes the Town of Timnath, Laporte, Bellvue and other areas of unincorporated Larimer and Weld counties. The first clause of its Ballot Issue 7E waives "THE 5.25% PROPERTY TAX LIMIT FOR ALL FUTURE PROPERTY TAX YEARS, WITHOUT INCREASING TAXES," so the district can keep property tax revenue for staffing, firefighting and lifesaving equipment and apparatus, and "OTHER OPERATIONAL AND CAPITAL NEEDS." Its second clause lets "ALL DISTRICT REVENUES BE COLLECTED, RETAINED, AND SPENT NOTWITHSTANDING ANY REVENUE LIMITS PROVIDED BY LAW." The question states no dollar amount and no end date.

Resolution 2026-08, in the board's August 18 meeting packet, covers the same revenue: the district's existing general operating mill levy "and any other source," exempt from the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) and from sections 29-1-301 and 29-1-1702 of state law.

The district says its voters approved keeping revenue above the TABOR limit in 2018. The district and the City of Fort Collins govern the Poudre Fire Authority, which serves the district. Under their agreement, the district certifies a mill levy of at least 10.595 mills each year and contributes the revenue, less administrative expenses, to the authority.

House Bill 24B-1001, passed in 2024, limits growth in local property tax revenue. Under the enacted law, qualified property tax revenue may grow by 5.25% times the number of property tax years in the current reassessment cycle, measured from a previous cycle's highest revenue year, and unused room can carry over to the next cycle. The limit applies to the district's property tax revenue, not to its tax rate.

The district's funding forecast projects more revenue with the cap waived than with it in place for 2027 through 2031. The district's funding website attributes the projected increase to rising property values and population growth.

The staff memo on the 2027 preliminary budget, prepared for the September 22 board meeting, notes that the 2028 calculation will use 2025 and 2026 certified assessed valuations and states: "Because property valuations have decreased, it is unlikely that the District will exceed the applicable growth limit based on the current calculations." The same memo asks the board whether to adjust the mill levy in full to recover revenue lost to the lower residential assessment rate.

The district's comment in Larimer County's notice of election says its costs rose about 10.69% from 2022 to 2026. It says the added revenue will replace and update frontline apparatus and fire stations, and that a yes vote lets the district "retain and expend only the additional revenue attributable to new growth above the 5.25% cap." No one filed a comment against the measure.