The Mountain Shadows Metropolitan District Board of Directors has placed questions 6B and 6C on the November 2025 ballot.

Both measures will provide sustainable property tax revenue funding instead of assessing a City-approved fee for operations and maintenance.

Current Operations and Maintenance Budget:

Mountain Shadows Metropolitan District operates and maintains several parks and amenities in the Whisper Creek neighborhood. The District’s operations and maintenance property tax revenue was set in 2004 with a $100,000 cap. Last year, the District asked voters to increase that cap. After the 2024 measure was rejected, the board reduced the 2025 budget to stay within the $100,000 limitation by:

• Eliminating funding for landscape improvements, site clean-up, and pet-waste stations

• Deferring repairs and maintenance on playground equipment and retention-pond infrastructure

• Reducing expenditures for snow removal, landscape maintenance and irrigation water

In 2025, the District spent more on maintenance than it collected by depleting cash reserves. Even this reduced level of spending is financially unsustainable.

The board is committed to returning proper funding levels for these community amenities and services. Not providing adequate funding will ultimately cost much more in the future to repair or replace community assets if they go into disrepair and reduce safety and usability of community assets.

November 2025 Ballot Questions:

Ballot question 6B: Sets a hard cap on the District’s property tax revenue for operations and maintenance of $500,000.

• $100,000 annual property tax revenue ceiling set in 2004 does not allow for cost increases, growth and inflation incurred over the past 20 years.

Ballot question 6C: Allows the District’s tax revenue for operations and maintenance to grow above 5.25% from the previous budget year to address emergency issues or build a capital-improvements reserve for large-scale projects.

• The District could not utilize this to exceed the $500,000 annual revenue cap if the proposed funding measure is approved.

Both measures must be approved by voters to ensure that property tax dollars continue to fund the operations and maintenance budget of the District. 

If these measures do not pass, the District will continue to collect $100,000 in property taxes for the general fund as allowed by law. In addition, the District will assess a fee to each home in the District to fund the remaining amount required to maintain the District’s parks and services according to the budget developed by the Board for that year. The District will not degrade services in 2026 and will utilize the Arvada City Council-approved fee to make up the difference.

• For most homeowners, property taxes can be deducted from your federal income tax, while the fee cannot

• There is an administration cost to assessing fees. All homeowners will pay slightly more in fees than they would have paid in property taxes to cover this extra cost

• The fee creates another bill for every homeowner to pay annually

If the measures pass, will the District need the full $500,000 right now?

The Board does not expect to levy the entire $500,000 amount for the foreseeable future. The proposed 2025 questions will allow the Board to set a collection amount and mill levy necessary to meet the operations and maintenance needs of the District.

• Based on the 2023 and 2024 budgets, the District needs to receive approximately $265,000 in property taxes to fund its operations and maintenance expenses.

• This would allow the District to restore services like landscape improvements, site clean-up, pet-waste stations and retention-pond improvements that were eliminated or reduced in the 2025 budget.

Arguments for the measures:

1. Both measures ensure the District has operational and maintenance funds necessary to take care of the community’s shared assets like parks, open space and walkways, and services including irrigation, pond maintenance, snow shoveling and pet-waste stations.

2. Passage of these measures will allow the District to have adequate funding for operations and maintenance without assessing fees. Imposing fees will increase costs for the District to administer while removing potential tax benefits for property owners in the District.

3. These measures set a hard cap for the District’s operations and maintenance budget at $500,000 annually. This cap cannot be exceeded without a future vote of District residents.

Arguments against the measures:

1. With recent increases in assessed values, property taxes have increased for property owners within the District. Combined with inflation and other economic considerations, now is not the time to increase taxes for local property owners. The District has the ability to impose fees to fund the necessary expenses for operations and maintenance.

2. The District should operate more efficiently and find other ways to fund its operations and maintenance, including further reductions in the district’s budget and negotiating contracts for services.

3. Colorado’s General Assembly specifically limited property taxes for operations and maintenance from rapidly increasing. The 5.25% limitation is needed to keep taxes low in the Mountain Shadows Metropolitan District.