Olathe Fire Protection District Seeks a 4.5 Mill Levy Increase due to drop in Residential Assessment Rate

Colorado Legislation now sets the Residential Assessment Rate (RAR)

Did you know?  Property tax revenue supports public schools, county governments, special districts to include fire districts, municipal governments, and junior colleges.  All of the revenue generated by property taxes stays within your county. Property taxes do not fund any state services.

A residential property with a market value of $400,000 has a taxable value of $272,000, this means property taxes are calculated only on the $272,000.  The assessment rate is currently at 7.15% ($20,000 assessed value for $400,000 property)  The residential assessment rate will drop to 6.95% for property taxes collected in 2023, and will again drop to 6.765% for property tax collection in 2024.  Real property is revalued every odd-numbered year, the 2025 rate has not yet been calculated.  This means up to a 28% tax revenue reduction for OFPD (-$138,087).

​OFPD seeks an increase to the annual budget through a 4.5 mill levy increase for the purpose of providing emergency services while maintaining the current levels of service for medical emergencies, rescue calls, brush fires, wildfires, and structure fires 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

​WHAT WILL IT COST ME?

This amount represents an estimated increase of $64 per year or about $5.33 per month per $200,000 value of residential property and will generate approximately $313,822 annually for this purpose.

All of the tax rates of the various taxing authorities providing services in our tax area are added together to form the total tax rate.
      County Tax Rate 0.019610
      City Tax Rate 0.008752
      School District Tax Rate 0.052116
      Fire District Tax Rate 0.007516
      Water and Sanitation Tax Rate 0.000693
​      Total Tax Rate 0.088687

Learn about the Olathe Fire Protection District

The Olathe Fire Protection District was created in 1947. Historically a volunteer department, the switch to a combination career department in 2021 brought 9 full-time and more than a dozen part-time jobs to Olathe.

Volunteers who are business owners, farmers, school bus drivers and other everyday workers still leave their jobs to train and assist crews responding to emergencies.

In 2001, OFPD elected to add the EMS service to the community after it was found to be needed locally rather than in Montrose or by a private company not affiliated with the community.

In 2003, voters approved a 1.0 mill levy to provide revenue to support the ambulance services basic operating and transportation costs (fuel, oil, medical equipment, supplies, and medicines).

In 2016, voters again approved a 3.0 mill levy to sustain the fire suppression and medical emergency services the District provides. With the additional revenue, OFPD provides advanced level care in the ambulance and professional fire suppression services.

Beginning in 2018, OFPD started the Inter-Facility Transfer program at the request of local hospitals to supply a much needed service for the Western Slope, and provides over 700 transports annually.  IFT’s generate over $500,000 in income for the District. This amount combined with all ambulance billings supply the needed funds for payroll and has made the transition to a paid combination department possible.

To conserve tax dollars, the District has obtained almost $1 million dollars in grants for: ambulances, medical equipment, firefighter gear, wildland gear, and other equipment necessary.