Street Fund, Silver Creek Water Re-Activation, & New Town Shop Proposals in Town Infrastructure Survey

Town of Rico will post an infrastructure priorities survey to determine citizens’ interest in a number of proposed projects and associated property tax increases. This survey will be available at Town of Rico website beginning Wednesday, May 5, according to a notice included with the most recent Rico monthly water bill.

The Rico Board of Trustees approved this survey at its regular monthly meeting April 21, 2021.

A draft of the proposed survey questions was included in the April Trustees Meeting Packet. Questions concerning the Town Street Fund, Shop Building and Silver Creek Water System Re-activation are reproduced below. Trustees submitted written comments or proposed edits to Town Manager Kari Distefano prior to to the meeting, which may affect the final text of the survey. These survey questions are re-printed below.

Question 5

Property taxes for Rico’s street fund have not increased for over 21 years (the last mill levy increase for roads was in 2000) but costs for maintaining the Rico road system have gone up steadily causing an annual deficit in the Town’s Street Fund. Would you vote for an estimated tax increase of 20.62 mills or a 27.9% increase to maintain current levels of snow removal and grading and repair drainage ditches and culverts, do dust control, improve surfacing and keep up with necessary equipment replacement and repairs?

__ Yes __ No

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T7.9% proposed increase described in the survey question is a ratio comparison to the present total mill levy paid by Rico property owners to all local government jurisdictions which provide services to Rico. Compared to Town of Rico's present 18.744 property tax mill levy, the proposed 20.62 mills increase for the Street Fund would more than double Town’s mill levy to 39.364 mills.

Tables of estimated Street Fund increases for commercial and residential properties were included in the April 21, 2021 Board of Trustees Meeting Packet, and are reprinted below. The table heading includes with Grant $123,799, however, survey question 5 (above) does not mention grant funds.

At $250,000 residential valuation and a 20.62 mills property tax increase, the Street Fund property tax is $368.58 per year, or $30.71 per month. Total cost to this taxpayer is $7,371.60 if the project financing term is 20-years.

Related:

Rico Street Fund Revenue Options to be Explored at March Board of Trustees Meeting - March 16, 2021

Rico Town Shop

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Ore Cart photo - May 2, 2021

Question 6

The Town shop is in poor repair and is no longer adequate or safe. Based on an estimated tax increase of 12.8 mills or 17.3%, would you vote for a mill levy increase to support the construction of a new town shop?

__ Yes __ No

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17.3% proposed increase described in the survey question is a ratio comparison to the present total mill levy paid by Rico property owners to all local government jurisdictions which provide services to Rico. Town of Rico's present property tax mill levy is 18.744. The proposed 12.8 mills increase for Town Shop construction would raise Town’s mill levy to 31.544 mills.

At $250,000 residential valuation and a 12.8 mills property tax increase, the Street Fund - Road Maintenance property tax is $228.80 per year (see table below), or $19.07 per month. Total cost to this taxpayer is $4,576 if the project financing term is 20-years.

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Question 6b

If grant funding would reduce the cost of this project to require a lower estimated tax increase of 8 mills or 10.8%, would you be willing to support a tax increase for a new Town Shop?

__ Yes __ No

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This proposed 8 mills increase for Town Shop construction would raise Town’s mill levy to 26.744 mills.

At $250,000 residential valuation and a 8 mills property tax increase, the Street Fund - Road Maintenance property tax is $143.00 per year - (see table below), or $11.92 per month. Total cost to this taxpayer is $2,860 if the project financing term is 20-years.

Adapted from Town of Rico Utility Service Area Map

Question 8

Re-activating the Silver Creek water system would create a redundant water system for the Town as well as support some limited growth. It would also offer increased fire protection. A preliminary engineer’s report from 2018, estimated the cost of re-activating Silver Creek to be $4,000,000. Would you support a tax increase of 42.4 mills or 57.5% to re-activate of Silver Creek?

__ Yes __ No

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57.5% proposed increase described in the survey question is a ratio comparison to the present total mill levy paid by Rico property owners to all local government jurisdictions which provide services to Rico. Compared to Town of Rico's present 18.744 property tax mill levy, the proposed 42.4 mills increase to construct the Silver Creek water system would more than triple Town’s mill levy to 61.144.

At $250,000 residential valuation and a 42.4 mills property tax increase, the Silver Creek water system property tax is $757.90 per year - (see table below), or $63.16 per month. Total cost to this taxpayer is $15,158 if the project financing term is 20 years.

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note: the survey question above describes a 42.4 mills increase, while related table below heading shows 43.43 mills

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Question 8b

If grant funding reduced the cost of this project to require an estimated tax increase of 31.8 mills or 43.0%, would you be willing to support the re-activation of Silver Creek?

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43.0% proposed increase described in the survey question is a ratio comparison to the present total mill levy paid by Rico property owners to all local government jurisdictions which provide services to Rico. Compared to Town of Rico's present 18.744 property tax mill levy, the proposed 31.8 mills would raise Town’s mill levy to 50.544 mills.

At $250,000 residential valuation and a 31.8 mills property tax increase, the Silver Creek water system property tax is $568.43 per year - (see table below), or $47.37 per month. Total cost to this taxpayer is $11,368.60 if the project financing term is 20 years.

A June 30, 2016 assessment of the Silver Creek Water source by Harris Water Engineering of Durango was included in the April 2021 Rico Trustees Meeting packet. The report advises that Silver Creek water supply re-activation would be adequate for about 250 connections, is unreliable, and will require construction of a new water treatment plant:

The following are key findings of the previous water supply evaluations.

• Previous to the 2002 and 2003 drought, the Silver Creek supply was believed to be adequate to supply the Town through build-out if not further. However, the drought showed that Silver Creek was not a reliable source of water and at best could serve the number of homes served by the water system in 2002 (about 250 connections).
• The increasing regulatory requirements for treatment of surface water has severely restricted the ability to treat Silver Creek water. The existing membrane GE units were installed over 10 years ago but can no longer consistently meet the water treatment criteria. A complete new water treatment plant would be required to continue to use Silver Creek water but funding is not currently available to construct a new facility.
• The alluvium well which began use in 2013 is permitted and decreed to provide up to 80 gpm. Testing prior to development of the well and use during operation, indicate that the well can provide 80 gpm on a consistent basis. Increasing this water supply beyond the current decreed amount would be very challenging for a number of reasons, including decreed instream flow rights that would be senior to any enlargement of this right.
• The alluvium well was determined to be a ground water source and therefore only needs disinfection, no filtration.

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The chart below from the April 2021 Rico Trustees Meeting packet shows that allowed water production from the alluvial well at the Rico pumphouse in the Dolores River valley north of town is 3,451,332 gallons per month. Monthly average water pumping from the well to supply Rico water users’ consumption was 953,500 gallons. This monthly average water production was 27.63% of the maximum allowed:

(953,500 / 3,451,332) * 100% = 27.63%

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The Rico well pumped 1,993,000 gallons in July, the maximum month for 2020. July water production was 40.36% of the maximum allowed:

(1,393,000 / 3,451,332) * 100% = 40.36%

Trustees reviewed Rico water consumption and well capacity during a water tap allocation proposal agenda item discussion.

Photo at top

Geese near the Dolores River beaver dam at Rico, Colorado - April 2021