2018-12-12_REVISION - M2018016 (7)

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' 66 residential and commercial property taxes. This may be the reason that some ' favor permitting the DMRM. Based on estimates provided in DMRM-July 2018, using Colorado Department of ' Revenue methodology, property taxes for the proposed sand and gravel pit are projected to come to $34,550 annually based on one-year production of one million tons of gravel (assuming current prices and expenses).67 While this is more than the ' value of lost property taxes from Empire, it represents a relatively small addition to tax revenue in comparison to other metrics. Consequently, we do not believe that a potential increase in tax revenue from the DMRM is worth the cost of the losses to ' Empire property owners. Why should we care? Empire property owners have become vulnerable because the ' negative shock to real estate investments from the proposed DMRM could not have been anticipated. Primary residences represent the largest asset most households own.68 In 2018, nearly two-thirds of Americans were homeowners. Even among ' families with less than the median income, over 50 percent owned their own homes. Empire is not a wealthy town. The median price of properties affected by the ' proposed gravel pit is only$214,000, compared to a median price for Clear Creek County of$297,000. Is it equitable for the residents of Empire to face losses due to ' the DMRM, while the pit operation itself is estimated to bring in $1.8 million annually from projected sales? ' One equitable policy to mitigate this vulnerability would be to have Clear Creek County compensate Empire residents for sales-price losses at the time of sale. Another avenue for remediation would be to have the DMRM establish an escrow ' fund for property-loss reimbursement. Of course, the surest way to avoid having vulnerable Empire property owners penalized for the negative externalities created by a mine operation would be to not approve the DMRM. ' Additional Costs of Traffic Congestion ' Additional road traffic is the normal result of the need to truck aggregates from mine to construction site. The DMRM's submitted documents anticipate 310 vehicle round-trips per day while the mine is in operation, of which 280 will be dump ' trucks picking up and carrying sand and gravel from the pit to a point at or near Denver. This represents a significant increase in traffic up and down the I-70 ' 66 Clear Creek Courant, October 17, 2018, p. 8. 67 Clear Creek County is also expected to gain revenue from mineral rights to the property, ' but this revenue has not been estimated to date in available documents. Certainly a fair decision of the economic consequences of permitting mining can only be made with full revenue coming to the county under consideration. ' 68 The study is based on the highly regarded Federal Reserve Board's 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF). 23