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Clear Creek County Adopts Resolution Using Special Property‑tax Credit, Not a Mill‑Rate Cut
Summary
Clear Creek County approved Resolution R25‑90 to certify 2025 property-tax levies for the 2026 budget year while applying a special property‑tax credit to reflect a state cap on assessed value; Finance Director Rachel Harlow Schock said the move keeps county mill levies unchanged but causes minor rounding differences in collections.
Clear Creek County commissioners voted Dec. 15 to adopt Resolution R25‑90, levying general property taxes for 2025 to fund the 2026 budget year and rescinding Resolution R25‑86. The board approved the motion after Finance Director Rachel Harlow Schock explained the county will use a special property‑tax credit to implement a state-required cap on assessed values.
Rachel Harlow Schock, Finance Director, told commissioners the county is not reducing its mill levy. "We are not lowering the mills for the county. We are reducing the total collected by a special tax credit," she said, describing the credit as a way to aggregate eligible tax credits and present them on taxpayer receipts. She cited a state statutory provision (transcript citation: Colorado Revised Statutes section 39‑5‑128(1), as referenced) as the authority the county is using to implement the approach.
The credit exists to reflect reductions for qualified properties under the state cap process. Schock said the state portal requires expressed values in mill equivalents limited to three decimal places, and that rounding in the portal led to small differences between the county's internal calculations and what the state accepts. As a result, the county's method yields a $73.48 net additional revenue collection next year, she said, and does not change budget totals in any material way.
Commissioner (Speaker 2) moved to approve Resolution R25‑90; the motion was seconded and commissioners voiced their approval. The transcript records the motion passing but does not provide a roll‑call vote with names tied to each 'Aye.' The resolution rescinds R25‑86 and certifies the levy using the special‑credit approach for transparency on taxpayer receipts.
Schock and other staff clarified the effect on special districts: the county's application of the credit reduces total collection for the Emergency Services district by $80.08 while the county collection is affected by the $73.48 rounding amount. Staff described these dollar changes as immaterial and stressed the change affects how amounts appear on bills rather than changing the county's published mill rates.
The board proceeded immediately afterwards to act as the Emergency Services General Improvement District board to consider a parallel resolution for the district. The special session adjourned after the district action.
