Triview Metropolitan District, Jan. 8 and 25 – Mill levy lowered; 2024 budget approved

Mill levy certification
District manager’s report
Water tank planning progressing
Assistant manager’s report
Financial update
Parked cars hamper snow removal efforts
Executive session

By Natalie Barszcz

The Triview Metropolitan District (TMD) board held a special meeting via Zoom on Jan. 8 to certify the district’s mill levy and approve the 2024 budget. At the regular board meeting on Jan. 25, the board received multiple updates on water infrastructure projects and heard about a pause in planning approvals, the lower-than-expected sales tax revenues in 2023, and how street parking was hampering the district’s snow removal efforts.

Mill levy certification

District Manager James McGrady said the district finally received the total property tax revenue assessment for 2024 at the end of December. The district was anticipating about $179 million, but the final amount after the changes made by the state Legislature in November was reduced to just over $172 million for 2024. After reassessing the 2024 budget, the district is still in a position to lower the mill levy by 3.5 mills from the 2023 mill levy of 24 mills. The operating mill levy has been raised to 4.5 mills, but remains under the 7 mills limit, and 16 mills will be set for the debt service. He also informed the board that the 2024 budget had been revised to add $500,000 back into the 2024 budget for the Promontory Pointe overlay project. It had accidentally been omitted in the final proposed budget in December, he said.

Vice President Anthony Sexton asked if the district envisions ever needing to go to 7 mills or above for operational use.

McGrady said he projects the budget five years ahead and does not anticipate the district needing to increase the general operations mill levy to more than 5 mills unless the district loses a major retailer or a substantial downturn in property values occurs. Those losses could cause the district to go to 7 mills, but if the property valuations continue to increase and the district maintains the current retailers, even adding more commercial growth, the mill levy should not ever go to 7 mills.

Sexton said the board had lowered the mill levy consecutively for the past four years.

Director Jason Gross asked what was driving the increase in general operating costs.

McGrady said the biggest drivers increasing the general operating costs are inflationary pressures, wages, materials, gasoline and the increases in road miles and open spaces the district is required to maintain. The Northern Delivery System (NDS) is a separate entity paid for by water and wastewater rates and fees and is not funded by the general operations and debt service mill levy. To “cross pollinate” the two would be a direct violation of TABOR, he said.

The board unanimously approved Resolution 2024-01, accepting the 2024 budget and certifying the mill levy at 20.5 mills for 2024.

Note: The mill levy is needed to cover about $3.5 million in general obligation bonds and interest, and the debt service bonds and interest for 2024. The district’s property tax assessment was about $125 million for 2023. The certificate of tax levies for 2024 can be found at www.triviewmetro.com.

The Jan. 8 meeting adjourned at 4:57 p.m.

*Above:* The TMD Board of Directors is made up of, from left, Vice President Anthony Sexton, Director Amanda Carlton, President Mark Melville, Treasurer/Secretary James Barnhart, and Director Jason Gross at the Jan. 25 board meeting. *Photo by Natalie Barszcz.*

District manager’s report

McGrady said the following:

The district has hit a pause on the NDS until the pump station construction is complete. The pump station is going well after some conflict between the construction company and the Kiewit engineers. The district has spent about $18.7 million to date on the NDS, and the project is about 82.4% complete. The total budget for the completed project is expected to be about $22.2 million.
The 16-inch pipeline that could transport water from the west side of I-25 (known as Segment “C”) has been installed to Old Denver Road. The pipeline will allow Conexus to begin construction. If the Town of Monument (TOM) requires an interconnect to the pipeline, the pipeline will be available for a fee.
The Fountain Mutual Irrigation Co. (FMIC) change case is processing through the water court. The district has 557 shares with the FMIC, and two parties remain in opposition to the change case. (The shares will be necessary to operate the NDS).
The box culvert installation project on the Excelsior Ditch is complete. The culverts were installed under the Nyberg Road underpass to allow the expansion of flows to the reservoirs from about 25 cubic feet per second to 170 cubic feet per second. The project cost about $340,000, with TMD contributing about 80% of the cost (about $270,000).

Water Attorney Chris Cummins said a couple of other choke points remain in different areas downstream that require box culverts, but they are less urgent and will be less costly to install due to the positioning under narrower, less-trafficked roads.

Water tank planning progressing

McGrady said the six-month moratorium the MTC approved effective Jan. 4 is unlikely to impact the six-month planning process for the 2-million-gallon water tank the district is planning to install at plant “B” (Promontory Pointe). The district scheduled a pre-application meeting with the two remaining town planners on Feb. 1. The $1 million matching water tank grant funding the district received through the American Rescue Plan needs to be spent by mid-2026. The planning process can take up to six months, and the district is expecting to install the tank by July 2026. See www.ocn.me/v24n1.htm#tmd and MTC article on page < 1 >.

Assistant manager’s report

Assistant Manager Steve Sheffield said the following:

The district has engaged in multiple meetings with the TOM to discuss the plans and improvements for the Higby Road widening project. The project is dependent on build-out of residential homes, apartments and commercial growth in the northern part of the district.
JHL Contractors is redoing the head gate and the diversion at the district’s Arkansas Valley Irrigation Co. ditch site in Buena Vista. The contractors conducted aerial LiDAR mapping over several weeks to provide a solution to the wetland constraints for the Matrix Design engineers.
The intrusion alarm on the SCADA system at the South Reservoir pump station on Nyberg Road, Pueblo, had been activated.

Financial update

McGrady said sales tax revenues were less than expected in 2023 and that it was likely due to less new construction and residents “tightening their belts.” However, the district received 92% of the projected water sales in 2023, “not bad” considering the late wet spring in May and June. The warm fall temperatures generated good water usage in September to help pull the numbers up, he said.

In addition, he said the district budgeted for 50 taps in 2023 but had a flurry of activity in the fourth quarter. The income for the taps added about $4.1 million to about $2 million that was received in early 2023 for the Thompson Thrift Apartments on the west side of Jackson Creek Parkway. The district had estimated about $5.3 million in tap fees but netted about $7.9 million in 2023. The district has conservatively budgeted about 50 tap fees for 2024.

District Attorney George Rowley cautioned about the rising crime of backflow preventer theft occurring in the Denver Metro area. He suggested the backflow units be individually noted on the insurance policy to avoid costly replacement should any by stolen.

Sexton said a community his landscaping company services had a backflow preventer stolen the night before.

The board unanimously approved checks over $5,000 and accepted the December financial report.

Parked cars hamper snow removal efforts

Public Works and Parks and Open Space Superintendent Matt Rayno said some streets were difficult to plow due to the number of parked cars on streets. It was particularly prevalent in a couple of the older subdivisions of Jackson Creek and on Panoramic Drive in Sanctuary Pointe.

McGrady said the district website requests residents do not park on the street during snowstorms and the TOM ordinances apply within the district. When heavy snow events occur, the problem of clearing the snow is particularly bad. Visit www.townofmonument.org Snow Plow Information Code of Ordinances: MMC 10.08.010 and MMC 12.04.2020 and MMC 12.04.040.

Rayno said the district’s snow removal team applies liquid brine to the priority roads before each snowstorm. The district aims to provide better service with each storm by revisiting the snow removal areas to see the result. If something is not working and ice dams are building, the problem will be addressed to avoid future issues, he said. The snow removal priority map can be found at www.triviewmetro.com.

Executive session

The board moved into an executive session at about 6:50 p.m., pursuant to Colorado Revised Statutes 24-6-402(4)(a), (b), (e), to received legal advice regarding acquisitions and negotiations associated with water acquisitions, strategic planning, and change cases.

Sheffield confirmed that no actions were taken after the board returned to the regular session. The meeting adjourned at 8:53 p.m.

**********

Meetings are usually held on the third Thursday of every month at the district office located at 16055 Old Forest Point, Suite 302. The next regular board meeting is scheduled for Feb. 22 at 5:30 p.m. For meeting agendas, minutes, and updates, visit triviewmetro.com.

Natalie Barszcz can be reached at nataliebarszcz@ocn.me.