By Will Cornelius
The Surveyor

Fort Collins has one, Loveland’s got one, Windsor even has one and Berthoud could be next.

On April 22, the Town of Berthoud held an information session about creating a possible Downtown Development Authority (DDA) along Mountain Avenue.

Two dozen people attended the meeting at town hall to learn more about how a possible Berthoud DDA would operate and to discuss potential challenges and future ramifications. In Colorado, DDAs are special tax districts established by municipalities to promote economic development and enhance downtown aesthetics.

Over the past six months, there have been a few informal gatherings with businesses and people along Mountain Avenue to gauge interest in a Berthoud DDA. Those meetings led to the creation of a working group to explore the feasibility of creating one.

At the information session, two of the potential members of a future Berthoud DDA led a casual discussion to answer questions and gather feedback from the community. Steve Byers, a cofounder at EnergyLogic and Whitney Way, who owns City Star Brewing with her husband, represented members of the working group.

“One of the biggest questions that everybody should have is—why now? And it’s not really that it’s now or never, but now is the time because of all the development that is coming into town,” explained Byers. He said this is important because revenue for a DDA can come through three avenues. The first and most important is through tax increment financing (TIF).

TIF is a method of funding a DDA by using future increases in property tax revenues generated by development to finance infrastructure and other public improvements. Once a DDA is created, a baseline is set for the assessed value in the district. Any new growth in property tax revenue in the district—like from a new grocery store along Mountain Avenue—would flow to the DDA.
Existing taxing districts, like the Thompson School District, the Berthoud Fire Protection District or the Berthoud Community Library District would still get the property tax revenue they had received previously.

The creation of a DDA would not create any new taxes, but change where existing tax revenue went to. A DDA can also take on debt or impose a 1 to 5 mill levy rate increase, but both of these must be approved by a majority of voters in the district.

“Our job is to not be cheerleaders for this, that’s not what we’re primarily doing. We’re asking tough questions also,” said Way. She explained that while the working group and others saw a lot of upside for a DDA in Berthoud, they still expressed concerns and foresaw challenges in the future.

One of the biggest questions was what kind of projects a Berthoud DDA would be involved with. Byers and Way urged attendees to fill out an online form about what business owners would want from a DDA. Most of the discussion revolved around the beautification of downtown Berthoud, for example, a future Berthoud DDA could offer a small monetary grant to businesses that want to improve their storefront.

But, while a DDA can help improve and incentivize projects to make a vibrant downtown, it cannot force businesses or residents to follow along. “It’s not an HOA, no DDA police,” Way said lightheartedly. So a DDA could offer a uniform signage program to businesses, but could not force them to be a part of the project.

The biggest concern raised at the meeting was how a new special tax district, like a Berthoud DDA, would affect existing special tax districts in town. Berthoud Fire Chief Stephen Charles was supportive of a growing Berthoud but expressed concern about the fire department losing future revenue growth. “What we need for us is commercial growth. When we project out five years now, based on a relatively conservative revenue increase, in 2028 we’re in trouble.”

The Berthoud Community Library was also concerned about losing future tax revenue growth. “Our own library district, we are only viable, I can say we only really have the doors open at this point because of the increase in taxes in the eight years that I have been here,” said Amie Pilla, the library CEO. “We would probably have had to lay off or close doors by now if we didn’t see that increase in property value and development.”

Despite the concerns from Berthoud’s local fire station and library, the mood of the meeting was how a DDA could accommodate them. Walt Elish, the town’s business development manager, clarified that the DDA and other special tax districts could come to revenue-sharing agreements.

Other points discussed at the meeting included voting logistics, potential staffing help from the town board and contacting all residents, businesses and property owners in the district.

To form a DDA, a majority of voters within must approve the special district. Every resident, business owner and property owner is entitled to vote in the election. From the town’s estimates, there are believed to be at least 300 potential voters. There are 228 total properties in the proposed DDA and 92 businesses. “We’re looking at November potentially for that if there does seem to be general support,” Way told the crowd.

The boundaries of a future Berthoud DDA have been narrowed from a previous iteration last year to include fewer residences. The current boundaries run along Mountain Avenue from U.S. 287 to the roundabout on First Street.
Byers and Way both encouraged interested members to voice their support or concerns about a future Berthoud DDA and said they would notify people of their next working group meeting. At the informal meeting, a show of hands indicated support from roughly two-thirds of the room for creating a DDA in Berthoud.