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Redstone December24/January25

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RESIDENT / OCCUPANT PRSRT STD ECRWSS US POSTAGE PAID LYONS, CO PERMIT No 2053

VOLUME 25, NUMBER 11

LYONS, COLOR ADO

$.50

DECEMBER 13, 2024 / JANUARY 16, 2025

B •R •I •E •F •S Lyonstitle Brief Community Church celebrates Christmas LYONS – text

LYONS – Everyone is Brief title to join the welcome LYONS text Lyons – Communit y Church congregation at 350 Main St. in Lyons on Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. for worship service and fellowship right after the service through this Advent season. On Sunday Dec. 22, as part of the 10 a.m. worship service, the church will have an all-ages Christmas Pageant to celebrate the joy of Christmas with our children. On Tuesday Dec. 24 everyone is welcome to join the congregation for a Christmas Eve service of lessons and carols and candlelight at 6 p.m. The Pastor is Mattias Krier. He can be reached at mckrier@ gmail.com. The office can be reached at lyonscommunityumc@gmail.com or call 303-8236245. Lyons Catholic Church celebrates Christmas

LYONS – The Lyons Catholic Church holds Roman Catholic Mass at the Lyons Community Church location, 350 Main St. in Lyons. There is parking in the back. Mass is held on Saturdays at 5:30 p.m. There is a Facebook page. People who want to live stream the Roman Catholic Mass can find the link on St. Francis of Assisi website, afassisi. org or call 303-772-6322 for information. Christmas Eve Mass will be held Tuesday, Christmas Eve at 4 p.m. at the regular meeting place, at 350 Main St. (the Lyons Community Church building). Hymn singing will start at 3:45 p.m. Living with Wildfire in the St. Vrain Watershed

LYONS – The Watershed Center, Wildfire Research Center, and local Fire Protection Districts are working together within and near the St. Vrain Watershed to better understand fire risk on residential parcels and gather community perspectives on wildfire and mitigation. They invite you to participate in the Continue Briefs on Page 2

issuu.com/sdcmc Like us on Facebook I •N •D •E •X LYONS MAYOR’S CORNER OPTIONS CONTRAST LOOKING UP INSIGHT CONSENSUS ART & ENT TALK OF THE TOWN NATURE CHOICES WHAT’S COOKIN’

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Pure holiday joy! A little visit with Santa (Gil Sparks), full of smiles and festive cheer. CATHY RIVERS

Lyons Town Board raises wastewater utility rates and maintains the 2024 mill levy on property taxes By Susan de Castro Gierach Redstone Review Editor LYONS – The Lyons Town Board had to hold and continue until the February 3 meeting four ordinances and two resolutions concerning the Tebo annexations. According to Attorney Brandon Ditman, the items were put on hold because, “There were some major issues that we had to work through, so we had to put the ordinances on hold.” The Lyons Town Board voted unanimously to pass Ordinance 1177 on first reading, to increase the service rates and charges by 3 percent for the wastewater utility service. This rate increase is estimated to bring an additional $28,500 in revenue to the water/wastewater enterprise fund to cover increased expenses from inflation based on the Consumer Price Index rate adjustment. Residential customers with metered town-provided water service pay a base rate of $24.50 per month; the proposed monthly rate would go up to $25.20 per month. Trustee Mark Browning pointed out that the rate increase in wastewater rates was due to the increased cost of hauling away sludge from the wastewater plant. Also the Lyons Municipal Code requires adjusting the wastewater fund rates and charges in accordance with the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The CPI for 2025 is estimated to be 3 percent. The good news for the people of Lyons is that the town board decided not to raise the mill levy for 2025. Municipalities are allowed to raise property taxes each year by up to 5.5 percent to keep up with expenses. They can choose to not raise the mill levy or to raise it by a smaller amount. Based on the Lyons Municipal Code, the property tax mill levy is set by resolution. For 2025 the town board decided to use the

same mill levy as 2024, due to the increase in property taxes. The 2025 mill levy is 15.137 mills, giving the town taxpayers a temporary tax credit of 4.85 mills. According to Finance Director Cassey Eyestone, this amount is different from the 2025 Budget adopted by the Board on November 18, 2024. The difference is due to the timing of the Boulder County Assessor’s final certification of property values (November 21, 2024) and when the budget was developed. This timing difference occurs every year. Based on Boulder County’s preliminary valuation, the net total taxable assessed value decreased by $151,180. The revenue to be collected in 2025 will decrease by $2,288. This means that the mill levy will bring in about $896,000 in 2025. The updated revenue amount complies with the 5.5 percent property tax limitation. This year, the levy is required to be certified to Boulder County by December 15, 2024. Moving along, the board passed on first reading Ordinance 1178, to change the source used for the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This request came from the board to the staff to make the change. The Lyons Municipal Code currently states that the source to be utilized for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for the Denver/ Boulder Metropolitan Area. Staff recommended changing the CPI source in the LMC to the Colorado Office of State Planning and Budgeting, which produces a quarterly economic update report for Colorado and includes the CPI. At the November 18, 2024 meeting, the Board of Trustees directed staff to draft an ordinance to make the change in all applicable sections of the LMC. Lyons Finance Director Cassey Eyestone told the board that the Colorado Office of State Planning and Budgeting is a very good source

and that it is used by other municipalities. The board moved on to discussing affordable housing at the regular meeting after a discussion at a workshop held before the board meeting. The board would like to create more affordable housing in Lyons and that discussion included creating housing for middle class people who do not qualify for the lower-tiered income housing but cannot afford the housing that is considered mid-range housing. The discussion included the fact that the Area Median Income (AMI) in Boulder is quite high compared to other parts of the state, making it difficult for some residents to qualify. Trustee Tanya Daty said at the workshop, “We have to come to the realization that we live in a county that is unaffordable to many people. There is only so much that we can do.” According to the statistics listed on the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) website, the AMI in Boulder County is $102,200 for one person and $146,00 for a family of four. The board’s discussion included creating a tiered system of two tiers of housing; Tier One would be housing for people who qualify for 30 to 80 percent of the AMI and Tier Two would be for people in the 80 to 120 percent of the AMI income bracket. Mayor Rogin suggested during the discussion to make Tier Two not deed-restricted. Deed restricted usually means that a property is subject to specific rules and limitations on how it can be used, outlined in the legal document (deed) that transfers ownership, often including restrictions on what can be built, how the property can be used, and even its appearance, usually enforced by a home owners association (HOA) to maintain property values within a community; essentially, it limits the owner’s full rights to the property. The board plans to have more discussions on the affordable housing issue.


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