With property tax bills increasing 27% county-wide, Pitkin County will implement its first-ever property tax relief program for low-income homeowners.
Homeowners who will pay an increased property tax bill in 2024 are eligible for up to $2,000 in rebate funds.
Refunds for tax bill increases will rely on a sliding scale of household income and number of household members. The application period for the program is months away, June 1-July 15, to accommodate for the different schedules of payment one might pay their property tax bill.
“We didn’t want to penalize anybody for doing the split payment,” said Pitkin County Chief Financial and Administrative Officer Ann Driggers. “Therefore, we set the application dates at the end of the payment cycle.”
Full payment of a property tax bill must be postmarked by April 30. Split payments must be postmarked by Feb. 29 for the first installment and June 15 for the second.
Any household that faced an increase in property taxes is eligible for the program (Since it is a rebate program, it is required that the property tax bill is already paid). The total verifiable household income must be below 500% of the federal poverty level (FPL), and all applicants must provide a copy of their 2022 Individual Tax return for all working household members 18 and older as well as a completed IRS Form W-9.
APCHA-aligned properties are not eligible, as their property tax increase is already capped. Rental properties are not eligible, either, and homeowners must prove they live in the property for which they seek the rebate.
Applications that meet the eligibility requirements will have their information applied to the following formula to determine the amount of their property tax rebate:
- Household annual income/500% FPL for household size
- The household’s total countable income is divided by the 500% FPL for a household of that size. This calculation determines the percent below FPL a household is. It creates a sliding scale by which households further below FPL receive a greater rebate as a percentage of the property taxes paid.
- Potential eligible rebate = (2024 property tax-roperty tax 2023) * Household % Below FPL
- To determine the amount of rebate a household is potentially eligible to receive, the difference between the household’s 2024 and 2023 property taxes is multiplied by the household’s percent below FPL. This calculation equals the total rebate the household would be eligible to receive if there were no limit to the funds available for the program.
- Actual rebate amount = potential eligible rebate * (sum of all potential eligible Rebates/total program funds)
- This calculation determines a multiplier that is applied to all of the Potential eligible rebates which adjusts all the potential eligible rebates down by the same ratio to keep the payments within the program budget. Rebates are capped at $2,000
The application will likely run through the county Human Services Department, though the final details are still to come. The department plans on having both virtual and physical application options.
“We wanted to look at ways we could have a program that might help some of these folks with the increase that they’re going to see,” said Sam Landercasper, the Human Services deputy director of strategy and operations.
Pitkin County set aside $200,000 of the General Fund to fund the program. County staff is working to raise more funding from other taxing entities that did not offer a temporary mill levy credit to their tax base, meaning they collected as much as they legally could instead of trimming the revenue.
Roaring Fork Transportation Authority, Town of Basalt, Aspen Valley Hospital, and Aspen School District did not issue temporary mill levies, though their mill levies vary greatly from one to the other.
Although the county average in a tax bill increase is 27%, each tax bill is different depending on a home’s location within taxing districts and assessed value.
Pitkin County’s new program is not the first of its kind, just the first county program offered to such a wide pool of eligibility.
The county’s Low and Moderate Income Senior Tax Relief Program is available through Pitkin County Senior Services. The program offers partial property tax refunds from the City of Aspen, City of Aspen Utilities, Aspen School District and Pitkin County.
Statewide, the senior property tax exemption is available to senior citizens and the surviving spouses of seniors. It deducts 50% of the first $200,000 of actual value of the qualified applicant’s primary residence from property tax calculation.
