A bill for an ordinance amending Article XI (Refund Payments to Elderly or Disabled Persons) of Chapter 53 of the Denver Revised Municipal Code (Taxation and Miscellaneous Revenue). Amends Article XI of Chapter 53 of the Denver Revised Municipal Code (DRMC) relating to the Refund Payments to Elderly or Disabled Persons program to expand eligibility including to low-income homeowning families with children, citywide. The Committee approved filing this item at its meeting on 12-19-18.
Thank you, Councilwoman Sussman. If there are no objections from members of Council on Monday, January 7th, there will be a one hour courtesy public hearing on second or final reading for Council Bill 1476. All right, Madam Secretary, please put the next item on our screens. Councilwoman, can each go ahead with your comment? Thank you, Mr. President. This is a really exciting bill 1507 And it's about a program that often isn't known by our residents, and it's really something for them. So that's why I called this out. This is first reading on the senior and disabled property tax rebate that used to just be for low income seniors and disabled folks . It was progressive and that included both renters and owners. But we actually didn't see very many owners who were able to take advantage of the program. We have about 3 to 4000 households each year, though, that apply to the city and get assistance. And so this bill tonight really is going to help us reach more owners who are struggling to stay in their homes as our property taxes go up with the values of our homes to support both our schools and the city. So the program itself doubled in 2012, but owners were unable to use it. And today's changes are going to increase the limits for owners. For example, for a single senior to be that you needed to earn less than 16,000 for a single senior or disabled person. Going forward, you can earn up to 20,500. So a pretty significant increase in eligibility for owners who are seniors or disabled folks. And then I think one of the most important changes is that it will now start to cover families with children. We have, you know, a couple thousand of these owners in the city who are lower income. Maybe they bought a home and then experienced a disability or a divorce. Maybe they inherited a home from parents. But for whatever reason, they own a home but have a very low income. And these families with children, they will be able to earn up to $27,000 for a family of two, for example, or 33,000 ish for a family of four. So we're going to really be able to help more single senior and disabled low income homeowners. And we're going to be able to, for the first time help families. So lots of kudos and we can share more of those on final reading. But just to help ask folks to help us get the word out, these programs are available starting May 1st for the prior tax year. And so all of the department's materials will be upgraded and reformed in the next couple of months. And so it's a super exciting set of changes and we'd appreciate the public's help and to spread the word. And thank you to everyone who worked on the bill. Thanks. Thank you, Councilwoman Kenney. Councilwoman Gilmore. Thank you, President Clerk. I am happy to support this on first reading tonight and you know, thank my colleagues, Councilwoman Kenney each and Councilman Espinosa for pulling together the Office of Economic Development, the Office of Finance, Denver Human Services. And, you know, this really came forward because residents in the Montebello community, the community that I live in, were very concerned about anti displacement tools that we could start to look at to make sure that we are allowing our seniors to age in place and others to stay within our community. And this was a low threshold where we as the city already had the senior and disabled property tax rebate program, and we would be able to expand this and get it out further and wider to our residents. And so I just want to give kudos and a thanks to the Montebello leadership cabinet because we've been working together with them for over three years, identifying different policies and initiatives that we could work on together as a community to mitigate involuntary displacement and the negative effects of gentrification in our community. And this is going to be a huge win for them as well, because they put a lot of time and effort and work into making sure we were able to push this forward. So thank you. Thank you, President Clark. Thank you, Councilwoman Gilmore. Madam Secretary, would you please put the next item on our screens? And, Councilwoman, can you just go ahead with your comment?