We received an overwhelming response to our previous post “Centerra Enigma.” Mostly either in favor or against Metro Districts by email. However, Centerra’s funding involves sales taxes (called fees), property tax rebates, mill levies (Metro District) and lastly huge subsidies by the city through fee waivers. Therefore, we decided to create a new string for Metro Districts as the Centerra Enigma involves many other issues to which we object – not the fact they also have a Metro District.
Below is a typical email we receive from people living within residential Metro Districts both inside and outside Loveland. We don’t have the staff to research every complaint but it appears as though some people may have purchased their homes unaware that they would be paying higher property taxes for 20 years.
Here is one email –
” Hi,
I live in the Waterfront Metro Taxing district. Our taxes are double what the typical Loveland resident pays. Do you think any shenanigan’s went on with the city when this taxing district was formed. I know Fort Collins city council has been against creating them for residential subdivisions which is exactly what Loveland did.
Thanks”
If any of our well informed readers want to help answer this question please jump-in. We believe incompetence and simple bias resulted in Loveland’s previous “builder” council approving some Metro Districts that have become unpopular. Others, nearly identical ones, they also denied so the picture may be more complicated than what it appears.
If the higher taxes means the house price is lower than it doesn’t really make any difference to THE NEW HOME BUYERS if they buy a new home inside a Metro District so don’t discourage Red.
I bought a house already built that is not in a Metro District thank God.
My Realtor only showed comps on price per square foot with other homes outside my development. One of them was in Waterfront! I must have dodged the bullet because her comps never calculated the double property taxes which would have killed me since i thought that house was cheaper than it would have really cost me.
The moral is every subdivision can have different property taxes? Holy cow life in this century is getting complicated!
Keep up the good work but Red does owe you a smack down for bein stupid!
It was part of the corruption of the housing boom. Guys who knew the system could hide their infrastructure costs in a Metro District so buyers paid for all that later in lots higher property taxes.
What McWhinney did at least I know in one residential development is also hide all the other community parks and bike trails in a Metro District by not even having an Home Owner Assoc. and the city said ok.
That way everyone who walked in the door to look at a house was told “look you have zero HOA fees here but all this great stuff” while i was sittin there telling my buyers they had to pay like $250 every month because everyone asks about the HOA on new builds first. The stupid city decision to make us always have community owned property in every development for overflow forced everyone I know to have to have an HOA except of course fair haired McWhinney boys.
So they did have an angle there too I just don’t know if you reported it. Talk to Pinnacle they know all about it.
In our case we knew there was a Metro District mill levy but no one told us it was like getting an ARM where they could raise it later. I am not sure but the last two paragraphs don’t seem to agree.
Metropolitan District: Purchaser acknowledges and agrees that the Property will be included in Waterfront Metropolitan District (the “District”). The district was organized pursuant to a Service Plan approved by the City Council of the City of Loveland, Colorado, on or about October 7, 2003. Certain information regarding the District is summarized in the document entitled “General Disclosure and Common Questions Regarding Waterfront Metropolitan District” (the “District
Disclosure”). The district is described in further detail in the Service Plan for Waterfront Metropolitan District, City of Loveland, Larimer County, Colorado (the Service Plan”) Purchaser acknowledges receipt of the District Disclosure and that if the purchaser would like a copy of the Service Plan it is there option to obtain it from the City of Loveland. The District will have authority to impose property taxes for all of the activities identified in the Service Plan. The district anticipates issuing bonds to provide for the costs of capital improvements within their boundaries. In order to meet the debt service for the bonds, and to pay
operations costs, the District will impose mill levies under the Service Plan. The maximum mill levy the District may initially impose for the payment of general obligation debt and for operations and maintenance will be 46 mills (the “Mill Levy Cap”) The Mill Levy Cap may be eliminated when the face amount of all or any portion of outstanding bonds does not exceed 50% of the assessed valuation of the District. The Mill Levy Cap will be subject to adjustment if the laws of the State of Colorado change with respect to the assessment of property for taxation purposes, the ratio for determining assessed valuation changes, or other similar changes occur.
In any of these events, the Mill Levy Cap shall be automatically adjusted so that the tax liability of individual property owners neither increases or decreases as a result of any such changes, thereby maintaining a constant level of tax receipts of the District and overall tax payments for property owners.
Purchaser agrees to comply with the District Documents and to pay all fees, taxes and assessments levied by the District.
Regarding the waterfront development at boyd lake. Taxes are not double, a 30 second search on the larimer county assessors website will show you they are 59% higher. Most of Loveland has a mill levy of about 76 and waterfront has 124.5. Yes, a lot higher but not DOUBLE. This doesn’t sound like a case of a developer taking advantage of a home buyer, but a home buyer not doing their own research when making one of the largest investments in their lifetime ( a single family home.) People need to stop taking other peoples word when it comes to buying something and spend 30 seconds or maybe 30 minutes and do a little research on their own. If anything, the real estate professional this home owner hired, did not do their fiduciary duty and act in the best interest of their client.
I see blame it on the homeowner. You have to be with some outfit profiting from all this stuff. If I found out I owed 60% more property taxes than other folks in town I would be pissed. Developers need to stop hiding the costs in taxes. Please don’t respond cause I am not debating this with you and don’t even live there thanks be to God.
I was the one who wrote that email and our property taxes in our previous home were $1915 p/y versus $3478 p/y now. Thats almost double for the math challenged person above. We did do our research and knew what we would be paying. That doesn’t negate the fact that the Waterfront Metro District was a sham meant to line the pockets of the developer up front by saving themselves the infrastructure costs. It was plain and simple poor leadership on Loveland’s part for allowing it.