EFR unveils re-imagined plans to attack wildfire mitigation

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Evergreen Fire/Rescue’s wildland re team has moved forward since the department’s community ambassadors asked 16 months ago whether wild re prevention and mitigation were priorities for the department.

At a re board meeting on March 15, members of the department’s wildland team outlined the multipronged approach to both educating the community and performing the

SEE WILDFIRE, P5

Dear Davis Schilken,

My wife and I have been working our whole lives and have finally decided it is time to settle down and retire. However, we recently saw there were changes with the tax code in what is called “Secure Act 2.0.” Wasn’t the Secure Act just passed in 2019? How will this impact our retirement, if at all?

Sincerely,

Sam Saver

Hi Sam –

This is a great question! The Secure Act 2.0 was recently passed in December of 2022. The passing of this act should have little, to know effect on your retirement plans. In fact, it clarified a few things from the original Secure Act and made retirement a little bit more flexible. Here are just a few of those changes:

• RBD changed from age 72, to age 73 between 2023 and 2032, and age 75 in 2033;

• 529 Education Plan to Roth IRA rollovers (with some exceptions);

• Reduction on the Excise tax for a failed RMD penalty to 25% (down from 50%);

• Clarification on who qualifies as an Eligible Designated Beneficiary;

• Which Eligible Designated Beneficiaries are still subject to the 10 year withdraw rule;

• Changes to ROTH IRA contributions;

• Clearer definitions to Disabled and Chronically Ill beneficiaries

As always, there is no real way of knowing how these changes to the tax code may (or may not) change your Estate Plans. The best way to know how this will truly impact your plan is to sit down with your attorney and discuss with them personally.

Don’t let these changes negatively affect your Estate Plans. Let’s make sure we all remain on the same page. With a properly established and funded Estate Plan, we can ensure that you have the ability to give what you want, to whom you want, when you want, the way you want. During that process we can help you save money on every court cost, legal fee, professional fee, and tax fee legally possible.

Estate planning is never about how much you have, but how much you care about what you have.

Contact the Davis Schilken, PC team with any of your Estate Planning needs (303) 670-9855. We offer no obligation in person or virtual meetings. We make estate planning simple!

Visit our comprehensive website for more tools www.dslawcolorado.com

FROM PAGE 1 ently than the responses of others. e EPRD board hopes to meet in early May to discuss the survey results. at date has not been set, and the meeting will be open to the public. e board will get data on general responses. ose who take the survey and provide their name and email address will be entered into a separate random drawing. ree participants will have their choice of a 10-punch card to use at the rec centers, a 10-punch ice-skating pass or a 10-punch boating pass. e board also will decide whether to ask voters for more money in November. It must decide by July 30, which is the date it must inform Je erson County that it wants to put something on the ballot. your

Board members on March 14 went through the fourth draft of the survey, making minor changes as they went through the 25 questions. ey emphasized that even though each household will have a separate code to answer the survey, names will not be associated with the answers.

EPRD board members and sta have spent many hours in the last month honing the survey questions to get the information they believe will help them decide what programs and facilities the community wants.

Ultimately, the board will decide what projects it wants to complete in the next three to ve years, what it can a ord and when it might be able to partner with other entities to provide services. High on the list is tackling some of the deferred maintenance at its current facilities.