Castle Pines Metropolitan District
2024 Proposed Budget
Ready for Public Review
The Castle Pines Metropolitan District (CPMD) has completed the initial draft of the District’s 2024 budget.
The District has been playing “catch-up” in upgrading our water and roadway infrastructure. In 2023, we spent $7 million on upgrading our water lines, adding new wells, upgrading well equipment, and addressing the condition of our roadways.
Our 2024 budget is a continuation of focusing on water and roadway infrastructure. Even with the State’s recent property tax increases and the temporary 2024 relief package established by the Colorado Legislature this month, we plan to access $2.7 million of our $23 million cash reserves as well as use over $10 million of our bond proceeds to build a new 2 million gallon water tank, expand and upgrade our water treatment facility, and upgrade a portion of our District roadways. Roadway projects alone are expected to total $4.9 million in 2024 as we implement our long-range roadway plan.
Water usage rates introduced in 2023 will remain unchanged in 2024. However, per the long-range plan, there will be a $10 increase in the monthly capital improvement fee and nominal increases in other monthly base fees due to inflation. Our goal is to ensure the long-term sustainability of our community’s water demands and keep our 90-lane miles of roadways safe and in optimal condition.
A public hearing regarding our budget will be held on Monday, December 11th, at 8:30 a.m. Details for the meeting can be found at https://castlepinesmetro.com/meetings-events/board-meetings/
Comments can also be submitted via email to info@castlepinesmetro.com
Castle Pines Metropolitan District 2023 Budget
The District approved the budget for the fiscal year 2023 on December 2, 2022. The District is required to approve a balanced budget. The budget for 2023 anticipates $15,881,838 in revenues and $19,140,028 in expenditures.
The District has two operating funds: The General Fund pays for general overhead (personnel, office expenses, public works, landscape, street and storm drainage maintenance expenses, and snow removal). The supporting revenues are derived from property taxes. The General Fund represents about 45% of the total budget. The Enterprise Fund pays the expenses related to providing water treatment and distribution and sanitary sewer collection services to The Village at Castle Pines. The supporting revenues for the Enterprise Fund are derived from the user fees charged to property owners each month (water and sewer bills). The Enterprise Fund represents about 55% of the total budget.
The District’s total mill levy remains at 33.834 mills for property taxes – the same rate since 2001. Property taxes are assessed, collected, and distributed by the Douglas County Assessor.
2023 Budget:
General Fund Key Highlights
- Revenue from property taxes is essentially flat.
- Investment income is projected to double in 2023 (from $220,000 to $450,000).
- Committing $3.3M to road repair, maintenance, and safety improvements in 2023.
- Committing $2.4M to Resident Irrigation Efficiency Analysis and Rebate program in 2023.
- The ending fund balance is projected to decline from $15.9M in 2022 to $13.3M in 2023. This decrease is entirely due to one-time funding of the Resident Irrigation Rebate Program and flat revenues.
Enterprise Fund Key Highlights
- Forecast 30 million gallons (MG) reduction in water consumption (full-year effect from all the irrigation upgrades in 2022).
- Completed Irrigation Efficiency Analyses on approximately 1,084 homes in the Village (over 60% of all residences) in 2022. Anticipate processing the remaining “lion’s share” of the irrigation analysis and rebate submissions in 2023.
- Projected revenues exceed operating expenditures:
- Meet debt service coverage ratios.
- Depreciation Funding ($1.1M in 2023).
- Capital Replacement Reserve ($1.5M in 2023).
- Capital project investment of $9.0M (majority is funded by bond proceeds).
- Investment returns exceed interest expense.
If you would like a hard copy of the 2023 Budget, please contact Sue Mantz at 303-688-8330. The 2023 Budget is also an attachment listed below
Taxes
The Board certified a property tax mill levy of 33.834 mills (same since 2001). This means that 3.3834% of a property owner’s taxes will be paid to the Metro District to support its operations.
Here’s how it works: actual value x 6.95% = assessed value. Assessed value x 33.834 mills = property tax dollars paid to the District – or – $800,000 actual value x 6.95% = $55,600 assessed value x 33.834 mills = $1,881 tax dollars to the District.
You can access the link below to the Douglas County Assessor’s website, type in your last name or house number, and find the tax information specific to your property.
http://www.douglas.co.us/assessor/
Any questions? Contact Us.