Cortez voters have been unselfish with their tax dollars over the past year — approving mill levy increases for a new jail and sewer plant — and will have that generosity tested again at the next election.

Registered voters within the Re-1 school district will get a chance to decide on a mill levy extension during this November’s election.

Six years ago, a mill levy to fund the renovation of the Middle School was passed by voters within the Re-1 district boundaries. 2000 is the last year of that project’s assessment.

Re-1 school board members voted Tuesday to ask for a three-year extension of this mill levy to fund needed school improvements.

Jim Riffey, business manager for the Re-1 school district, said some school districts in Colorado have experienced building closures because building deficiencies have gotten out of control. If the mill extension passes, the school district would be able to fund several high-priority projects in an attempt to avoid these conditions in the Re-1 district.

In the first year of the extension, the district would complete several projects addressing health and safety issues, including boiler replacements at Downey Elementary and Beech Street Preschool, modifications of the grounds at Montezuma-Cortez High School for a safe student drop-off area, the replacement of out-of-date and unsafe bleachers at MCHS, winch modifications on the side and backboards in the gymnasium at MCHS, the addition of three classrooms, and the remodeling of bathrooms at Downey Elementary, and the re-carpeting and abatement of asbestos at Downey Elementary.

The final payment on the current bond — assessed at 5.5 mills — is scheduled for Dec. 1, 2000. If the extension passes, the current bond would drop half a mill, to 5 mills. The property tax cost per year to the owner of a $100,000 home within the district would be $48.70 under current conditions.

The cost to a $100,000 commercial property would be $160.71.

On May 2, county residents also voted in a sanitation district mill-levy increase in order to cover the cost of developing a $10 million sewer plant capable of handling future needs.

County Assessor Bob Cruzan estimated that residents will see about a 14 mill increase up front in order to cover the sanitation district’s improvements over the next 20 years. For the owner of a home assessed at $100,000, the mill levy increase would mean an additional $136.36 in property taxes, Cruzan said.

Cruzan said that the assessed value of a home is the amount of money that it would draw on the market, although assessed values are often a year or two behind the actual housing market.

Sanitation district officials said that the exact mill levy increase will not be set until December.

"The mill levy won’t be set until December but we are estimating around 14 to 14 1/2 mills," said Sanitation Director Bill Smith.