The mill levy certified today will be used for 2009 property taxes. Today the school board certified its general fund mill levy rate at 28.9 mills; that's about a 2.2 mill reduction from last year, which means about two cents less for every $1,000 on your property taxes.

How much a home owner will pay is based on the value of their property. The growth Mesa County has seen over the last year has more people paying property taxes but everyone one gets to pay a little bit less in taxes for the school district.
Jeff Kirtland, spokesman for School District 51 says that "as that increases the proportion any individual has to pay decreases the wealth gets shared."

This certification comes just four days before the states December 15 deadline, and six days after the Colorado Supreme Court refused to issue a ruling on a 2007 proposed law that's expected to raise 1.7 billion dollars for Colorado schools by blocking a scheduled decline in property taxes.

Kirtland says that has had no effect on today's certification but it did make for some confusion among school officials; "there was some uncertainty going around about what the Supreme Court’s ruling would be and how that would affect the numbers, potentially their decision would alter mill rate for our general fund mills.

The mill levy is re–certified each year and is required by the state constitution.