Election 2022: Greeley-Evans School District 6 MLO renewal

By Dan England

The last time Greeley-Evans School District 6 brought a Mill Levy Override to voters, they pulled out all the stops. They had to. The district, according to officials, was in desperate need of money, and voters had rejected an MLO request in the past. 

This time, five years after the district was finally successful in getting the MLO (by a roughly 60/40 vote), they’re coming back to voters to ask for a renewal. And it seems so peaceful, especially when you consider the overall political landscape, according to Tom Norton, former Mayor of Greeley who is leading the Yes on 4A campaign. 

It’s a little easier, too, given that the district isn’t really asking for a tax increase, Norton said, but just to keep things the way they are now. The district doesn’t need more money; it just needs the same property tax rate voters approved five years ago when they OK’d an increase of 10 mills. 

“Last time we really had to do an outreach,” Norton said. “Asking to maintain a tax instead of asking for an increase makes a big difference. It’s easier, but it also makes me more nervous because it’s so much quieter. You don’t know if you got the message out.” 

The MLO renewal would last 10 years. A levy of 10 mills means $10 for every $1,000 in assessed value. Assessed value is complicated, so here’s a tax calculator from Weld County to help you, and here’s some other information on Weld’s tax rate. 

But there does remain some opposition to the MLO, led, in part, by Sherrie Peif, an investigative reporter for Complete Colorado who covered education for at least a decade. She calls it a tax increase because assessed value  increases over time (especially lately as the market, while cooling off, exploded the last couple of years). That worries her, she said, because she believes the district’s motivation for keeping expenses under control may wane.

Still, she acknowledges that District 6 needs some money from voters. 

“I don’t think the district has too much money,” Peif said. “My problem is I’m just not in favor of THIS MLO.” 

Peif proposed a flat rate. She brought up $25 million a year in the interview. She said flat rates are used by some other districts, including Douglas County, which proposed a $60 million MLO. The flat rate, she said, would eventually mean a property tax share of the MLO goes down. 

“As more and more people move in,” Peif said, “your share goes down.” 

Peif also said inflation has made it tough for many District 6 families.

“We all agree the school district needs support, but it’s a struggle,” she said. “People I talk to are mostly no votes just because of their financial situation.” 

Installing that, however, would mean voting down this MLO, and that concerns Norton. The district has done much better after finally getting some funding after ranking near the bottom in the state when it had no MLO to make up the difference. 

“What was hurting the district was they didn’t have the support of the general public,” Norton said, “and I think they’ve accomplished that. We’ve got the district going in the right direction.”

Norton said funding from the MLO pays for updated security, textbooks and technology. It also keeps the district competitive for teachers and staff in a tough labor market, including finding bus drivers when the trucking industry is paying aggressive wages. “The ability to have good people to work in those positions is critical,” Norton said. 

The district also used part of the money to beef up its career readiness program, including vocational and technical education, and upgrade facilities that serve these purposes. The district also funded concurrent enrollment through Aims and UNC and advanced placement and International Baccalaureate tests. This makes Norton especially proud: He urged the district to pursue upgrades of the program. Norton himself was an engineer and worked as the executive director of the Colorado Department of Transportation in addition to his work in politics, but he had several labor jobs when he was younger. 

“We’ve got a population where 60% of families are in the lower income bracket,” Norton said. “They can make $100,000 a year as a plumber. Kids need to see opportunities and things. The district has done a fabulous job with this. This is what the mill level will do for you.”