The money for new pallet homes, or transitional housing units, will come from Lakewood’s Economic Development fund. The 2025 budget also shows the city expects to spend $9.5 million on land purchases for unspecific purposes, also from the Economic Development Fund. Lakewood is waiting to start the transitional housing program until land can be purchased somewhere. The city budgets $300,000 for pallet homes. These homes will be a new program that Lakewood will provide funding and support for, but may be owned and run by an outside organization with limited oversight. The Economic Development Fund has traditionally been used to develop economic opportunities in Lakewood, but in 2023, Lakewood re-interpreted the ordinance to include safety and general upkeep of the city. Previous discussion on the transitional housing program did not include a business analysis of any economic growth potential this program would provide. The $9.5 million for land purchases could be used for transitional housing land (for pallet homes), in whole or in part. By approving the budget, the city will have funds to allocate for purchases as it prioritizes. State of the Economy The budget presentation shows that median household income rose by 10% but the Jeffco employment rate is down by 1%, marking the need for more economic opportunities. Lakewood predicts just under 1% growth in sales tax which reflects the state of the economy.
Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado
Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado
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Including explanation from Bob Adams Lakewood will vote on a property tax increase on Monday. This will be done through the normal budget appropriation and mill levy certification. It is not called a tax increase anywhere. However, the 2025 Budget Book, page 62, explains that a temporary reduction in the mill levy rate will lapse in 2025. As a result, Lakewood residents will pay 6% more property taxes and Lakewood will collect an extra $15.5 million in 2025. In 2023, former Councilor Mary Janssen fought to get Lakewood to comply with the Lakewood City Charter and only collect revenues that are legally allowed. That equated to a property mill levy rate of 3.85%. Lakewood Charter has a revenue cap, not a tax rate cap, to protect its residents from windfall taxes, like abrupt property assessment increases. City Council did not agree to Janssen’s original proposal, but they did lower the mill levy to 4.28 mills. For one year. Now that year is up. On Monday, the Council will vote to approve the full mill levy of 4.711 mills, thereby increasing the rate by 0.431 mills from 2024. Your property taxes will go up again this year. “Natalie Menten, board director with the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) Foundation, emphasized the importance of TABOR’s protections: ‘According to paragraph 7(c), the maximum annual percentage change in each district’s property tax revenue equals inflation in the prior calendar year plus annual local growth (new construction). That safety cap protects taxpayers and gives very...
Press Release What: Zikr Dance Ensemble’s “Secrets” Where: Lakewood Cultural Center, 470 S. Allison Parkway, Lakewood, CO When: Friday, October 25, 2024 at 7:30pm (MT) Details: Tickets start at only $34! Available at https://bit.ly/ZikrLakewood2024. Zikr Dance Ensemble’s 2024 Fall Season is entitled “Secrets”. Highlighted on the program will be the world premiere of David Taylor’s “Liturgies” and a newly expanded version of the stunning “Ripples In The Sand”. Set to the electrifying Dune film score by Hans Zimmer, Ripples will feature new costumes and choreography and a breathtaking fabric canopy covering the entire stage. Also featured will be a reprise of audience favorite “Mobile”, the iconic miniature masterpiece by former Ballet West and San Francisco Ballet choreographer Tomm Ruud. Rounding out this mesmerizing evening of contemporary, multi-media dance will be Taylor’s “Altar”, and “Oracle”, a journey into the mysterious world of the ancient Greek Oracle of Delphi. Sponsors: SCFD; Denver Ballet Guild; National Endowment for the Arts; Colorado Creative Industries; Community Foundation Boulder County; Colorado Gives Foundation; Denver Ballet Theatre Academy; Ouray County Performing Arts Guild; Highlands Ranch Community Association; Danah Fayman Performing Arts Fund; The Ute Events Center; Premier School of Dance Zikr Dance Ensemble is a contemporary ballet company located on Colorado’s Front Range. Currently celebrating its 15thAnniversary Season under the direction of Artistic Director and principal choreographer David Taylor, Zikr offers a spectrum of works that pay homage to transcendent dance rituals and metaphysical concepts from many different ancient world cultures throughout history. The company’s original contemporary...
The 2025 budget presentation included a sales pitch to keep your TABOR refunds. Each department made note of which projects would be funded by TABOR and made a simple statement along the lines of “Without the additional TABOR revenues, the city will have less revenue.” Lakewood’s Chief Financial Officer, Holly Bjorklund, dedicated extra slides detailing how TABOR retained tax funds were used, by the specific project and by the department, to make an impressive list of accomplishments. Staff did not note which projects would go away if sales tax revenue decreased. There was no note detailing ways to increase sales tax revenues through economic development. No Council Member asked to spend less. TABOR retained funds accounts for 1.23% of all funds. In contrast, sales tax is the biggest source of revenue at 41%. Sales tax is also used for parks and police and all other city functions. It would be normal to focus on the bigger percentage of funds to present a clear budget picture. Instead, Lakewood focused on the single-digit, smaller source of funds. Coincidentally, Lakewood initiated a ballot vote to retain these funds permanently into the future. TABOR is the most mentioned fund but among the least significant. All this focus on TABOR by the city is to influence the upcoming vote that the city sponsored. If you have any doubts about Lakewood influencing your vote, see the list of TABOR-funded projects that the city has thoughtfully provided on its website. On October 7, City Council will vote...
Maps clipped from Community Crime Map for the month of September, 2024, in Lakewood, Colorado. Compare to September of 2023 below. Note that comparison is done visually since numbers for “Lakewood” include parts of of Denver, which doubles the number of crimes.
Lakewood City Council Members used resident concerns about speeding to pursue their climate change goals. They did this by lowering speed limits to increase walkable neighborhoods. The plan is to cause people to be uncomfortable driving and therefore reduce driving or increase walking. Monday night’s vote started with a discussion of public safety, but the final discussion points highlighted the walkability agenda, perhaps because there has never been an analysis of how many accidents were caused by speeding as opposed to other causes. There were a lot of assumptions made that speeding was the cause of every accident. Several Council Members and residents referred to the need to reduce or eliminate driving in order to make the city more walkable. In other words, if only there were lower speed limits, residents would feel safe enough to bike or walk. All Lakewood residential streets will now be at school zone speeds. Council positions are below. Walkable cities use planning, design, and density to maximize walking and minimize driving. Emissions decrease as pedestrians take the place of cars. – Climatedesigners.org Despite multiple claims by Council Members that their vote was “data driven”, there was no data presented on key facts: Council Members seemed to focus on an unsourced graph showing the likelihood of surviving an accident at different speeds. The injury data had no basis compared to other Lakewood statistics. For example, the statistic is that 25% of people will die when involved in an accident at 25 mph. However, the Lakewood...
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