The support of our community is vital to making School District 49 the Best Choice to Learn, Work and Lead. Your dedicated investment in the form of our Mill Levy Override (MLO) makes meeting many of our top priorities possible as we've worked together on our Building Our Future Community plan. It's allowed us to set a clear course to expand our schools in step with our growing community, while simultaneously prioritizing compensation for our team of teachers. As we look forward, we will continue to look at the best ways to turn our community's support into action to ensure we continue to live up to our vision and mission to be the Best Choice to Learn, Work and Lead.  

Former D49 Chief Business Officer presents to the Board of Education (June 23, 2021) the current financing methods District 49 uses for capital and operational expenses.

Local Mill Levies

All Colorado school districts generate local revenue by mill levies. In El Paso County school the mill levies range from 26 to 60 mills, with an average of 39 mills, including the mill levy overrides. Most school districts in Colorado, including those in El Paso County, begin with a state regulated mill levy of 27.0. From there, school districts can ask voters for a mill levy override or bond issues or both to increase local financial support.  

While other local school districts have similar mill levies, it’s the community-supported mill levy overrides that can drastically change the amount of revenue a school district can generate. For instance Manitou Springs has an override of 30.054. District 11 is set at 23.829. District 20 is at 14.520. Cheyenne Mountain’s override is 18.394. 

But several of these districts, unlike D49, also have bond redemption mills to increase funding, bringing their total mill levy up to higher levels. District 11 (6.15), District 20 (18.376),  Harrison (21.257) and Cheyenne Mountain (9.615) all have bond redemption mills. 

Here is a look at total mill levies for several local school districts.

Academy 20: 60.216

Widefield: 56.164

Cheyenne Mountain: 55.0

Manitou Springs: 53.144

District 11: 51.104

Harrison: 47.424

D49: 43.021

The Colorado Department of Education has a complete list of school district mill levies at:
https://www.cde.state.co.us/cdefinance/sfmilllevy    

Your Personal Cost

The Total Mill Levy for District 49 of 43.021 is set in three pieces:

1. The ‘Program Mill’ for the Colorado School Finance Act (set by statute) is 24.459
2. The ‘Abatement Mill’ that is formulaic, set by the County Assessor is 0.062
3. The ‘Mill Levy Override’ that is approved by local voters is 18.500
4. Total ML & MLO is 43.021

The mill levy is added to your property tax bill paid to the El Paso County Treasurer. Everyone in the school district has the same school mill levy, but the individual cost is based on the assessed value of your home and property. 

Here is an estimated cost based on your property value:

Property Value  ML/MLO  Annual Taxes 

$200,000   .043021   $615.20

$300,000   .043021   $922.80

$400,000   .043021   $1,230.40

$500,000   .043021.  $1,538.00

El Paso County Treasurer

The El Paso County Treasurer collects the mill levies and distributes them to the correct taxing entity which can be metro districts, fire protection districts, library districts, water districts, school districts, etc. The treasurer has a property search site that allows you to see the tax statement for any property showing the itemized list of mill levy charges. The treasurer also has a list of all mill levy districts in the county as well as an explanation of your tax statement. 

Property Tax Search: 
http://epmt.trs.elpasoco.com/epui/Search.aspx 

List of Mill Levies:
https://treasurer.elpasoco.com/mill-levies/

Property Tax Statement Explanation: 
https://treasurer.elpasoco.com/county-treasurer/property-tax-statement-explanation/ 

El Paso County Assessor

The assessor determines the “actual” (market) value for all real and personal property. Then, a percentage of that value is taken in order to derive the “assessed” value.
The El Paso County Assessor provides a database and map that allows you to see the assessed value of a piece of property and the costs associated with any taxing entity associated with that property, including the school districts. 

Calculate a Mil Levy

1. Actual Value of Home/Property x Residential Assessment Rate (.0715) = Assessed Value
2. Assessed Value x Mill Levies (.043021) = Estimated Taxes

Property Search: 
https://property.spatialest.com/co/elpaso