Denver City Council drops special tax district proposal in Cherry Creek

A former Denver City Council member calls it Democracy A current council member says she s surprised by the level of vitriol and intentional sharing of misinformation The topic A special tax district in Cherry Creek Last month after essential pushback from residents in the ritzy neighborhood discussions of implementing a general improvement district which would have paid for improvements by increasing property taxes were abandoned I ve never personally seen that big a pushback on a district and so early reported Jamie Giellis a local consultant hired to facilitate the process Special taxing districts have been on the rise in Denver Ballpark property owners and residents voted overwhelmingly last November to establish a general improvement district or GID RiNo s business improvement district or BID was renewed for another decade in May And next month those along Broadway south of downtown will head to the ballot box to decide whether to establish a GID there But a GID won t be coming to Cherry Creek Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer who represents the neighborhood initiated discussions about one earlier this year and stated she hired Giellis for Giellis who has been involved with the Ballpark RiNo and Broadway districts set about gathering district feedback and establishing a viable framework Special tax districts like GIDs and BIDs are quasi-governmental entities set up to provide additional services to an area Greater part are financed by levying an additional tax on properties within the district Sawyer explained she initiated discussions of a feasible GID in Cherry Creek because she is regularly approached by residents who want things that the City of Denver is never going to pay for What I hear is we want what the BID has she reported BusinessDen We want that lighting we want that landscaping there s no prevention utility Related Articles Denver council rejects proposal to buy a shuttered downtown auto shop to develop affordable housing Ballot Issues A through E ask voters to approve million for projects in Vibrant Denver bond package Denver Referred Question G would change how voters elect at-large City Council members Denver council members press mayor to budget millions more for rent assistance voting funding Downtown Rise Authority doesn t have to pay property taxes but will if it buys Denver Pavilions The BID in this occurrence refers to the Cherry Creek North Business Improvement District which was the first BID in the Denver metropolitan area when it was formed in according to the organization s website It covers the neighborhood s business district north of the mall from University Boulevard to Steele Street between First and Third avenues One major spending area has been private shield which grew from nothing in to in Sawyer commented establishing a GID is a way for residents to get their desired improvements At the end of the day the GID is the right tool she stated But the achievable GID attracted an organized opposition effort over the summer despite the formation process being far from landing on local ballots The effort was concentrated in the residential part of Cherry Creek North Yard signs went up as did a website showing the words New Tax New Tax New Tax flanked by siren emojis Among the organizers of that effort was Wayne New a Cherry Creek resident who represented the neighborhood on the Denver City Council from to He commented residents are very tired of increasing property taxes It was Democracy So we felt good about that New explained about Cherry Creek s defeated GID effort When New was on the council he facilitated discussions about a doable GID in the Golden Triangle which at the time was still early in its enhancement boom I thought a GID was more for undeveloped areas New noted That GID effort also fizzled before landing on ballots New commented residents in the Golden Triangle just weren t interested He mentioned a GID in Cherry Creek didn t make sense to me Cherry Creek doesn t fit he announced We pay the highest amount of property taxes in the city We could easily pay for our own improvements if we yearned to Sawyer noted Cherry Creek is the No neighborhood in Denver in terms of the per-capita revenue it provides the city In terms of total revenue she noted it s No trailing only downtown That is a source of frustration for them Sawyer declared of residents Dana Busch another resident who opposed the GID commented residents feel they re the city s cash cow and are increasingly paying more and getting less with Denver now charging for trash pickup and sidewalk maintenance She mentioned that with the exception of private protection she doesn t think neighbors were asking for things a GID would do We live in a very nice area I think the neighbors got really blindsided and continued to not really understand where this was coming from in the first place she commented Sawyer reported she s fine that Cherry Creek decided not to pursue a GID But she doesn t like how it went down She mentioned she repeatedly apologized to Giellis for how she was treated I m surprised by the level of vitriol and intentional sharing of misinformation Sawyer mentioned Busch acknowledged that selected very direct messages were sent but announced that came when residents questioned questions and got defensive nonanswers All that did was leave people more frustrated she commented Giellis noted opponents saw a GID as just a money grab They falsely disclosed the money collected would go to the city s general fund and not authentically be spent in the neighborhood she mentioned The announcement of all the budget cuts in the middle of the process certainly didn t make it any easier she announced referencing Denver laying off employees in August New voiced a similar concern in an interview Monday with BusinessDen Obviously the city doesn t have a lot of money he disclosed They re looking for local sources New stated there was a lack of information about the accomplishable GID including what things would cost Numerous details just hadn t been finalized yet according to Giellis who noted opponents fabricated numbers New noted that there would be no way for residents to opt out of the GID and that it would be in place for years GIDs are overseen by boards made up of district representatives He announced the structure meant we sort of would be losing a bit of control over our neighborhood New doesn t see a GID as the only way to get improvements The nearby Country Club neighborhood has roaming private guard he noted But it s not financed by a special tax district various but not all residents just directly pay for it In a July survey conducted by Giellis of respondents reported they were not interested in continuing to explore creating a GID The process however continued for two more months Sawyer declared specific of the uninterested respondents also wrote that they didn t have enough information to answer I feel bad for the residents of Cherry Creek Sawyer declared It was meant to be a cure and what has happened is it pitted neighbors against each other Busch explained other neighborhoods should see this as a model to emulate You can affect change she announced But you have to get enough people involved and you have to have a strategy Read more from our partner BusinessDen Get more business news by signing up for our Financial sector Now newsletter