Where the District's 47 mills go, how actual spending compared with each year's adopted budget, and how revenue, debt and reserves moved from 2022 to the 2026 budget. Built from the District's own adopted budgets and its audited 2025 financial statements, to help residents prepare for the 2027 budget hearing.
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The District levies 47 mills on every property in Vista Ridge. Since 2024, 25 go to the General Fund (operations, and money set aside for capital projects) and 22 to the Debt Service Fund (paying off the 2016 bonds). From 2008 to 2016 the total was 57.827 mills, mostly for debt. It dropped to about 48 in 2018 and has been 47 since 2023, while the share for operations grew from about a quarter to more than half.
Use the assessed value (not the market value) printed on your notice. Every $1,000 of assessed value pays $47 a year to the District: $25 for operations and capital, $22 for the bonds. Other taxing bodies (school district, Town, County and others) are separate.
Source: certified assessed values in the 2024, 2025 and 2026 Budget Resolutions. 2024 reflects the 2023 reassessment; 2026 values are the latest certified. A new reassessment sets the values for 2027 collections.
Percentages are each fund's share of that year's total mills. Before 2018 the audits include the small refund/abatement levy in the debt figure; from 2018 it is shown separately (0.020 to 0.371 mills, too thin to see). Sources: the 2017, 2022, 2023 and 2025 Audits, assessed valuation and mill levy schedules.
Totals are the taxes collected as reported in the audits; 2026 (lighter) is the levy certified for 2026, not yet collected. The split between operations and debt follows each year's mill shares.
Most General Fund money does not go to day-to-day operations. Since 2024 the largest use has been a transfer to the Capital Projects Fund, mainly for the landscape and irrigation project.
2022 to 2024: actuals from the budget documents. 2025: actuals from the audit. 2026: adopted budget (lighter bars).
The only debt is the Series 2016A general obligation refunding bonds ($33.4 million issued in December 2016 at 4.5% to 5%). Payments are level at about $2.65 million a year until the last payment in 2040. The debt levy has to cover them each year.
2022 to 2025: paid (2025 audited). 2026 onward: the scheduled payments from the 2025 Audit (lighter bars). The property tax line stops at the 2026 budget; later years depend on assessed values not yet set.
Money left in each fund at December 31. The Capital Projects Fund built up in 2024 and was drawn down in 2025 to pay for the landscape and irrigation project.
2026 is the ending balance the adopted budget expects.
Every capital line in the Capital Projects Fund, with links to the project pages on this site where one exists.
Every line of every fund. Favorable means revenue came in above budget or spending came in below it; unfavorable is the reverse. Lines are flagged when the variance is at least $10,000 and at least 10% of the budget. Click a row to see what the line pays for, every year's figure and the page in the source document.
Property tax is almost all of the District's income: $5.54 million of $6.22 million across all funds in 2025 (audited). Assessed value jumped 22% for 2024 collections (the 2023 reassessment), then grew 0.7% for 2025 and 3.6% for 2026 to $122.4 million. Residential property is about three quarters of it and commercial about a fifth. Values for 2027 collections come from the next reassessment, so the 2027 budget's revenue depends on numbers the County has not certified yet. A 1% change in assessed value moves District revenue by about $57,500 a year at 47 mills.
The 2016A bonds cost $2,654,550 in 2027 ($1,455,000 principal, $1,199,550 interest), nearly the same as every year through 2040. At the 2026 assessed value, 22 mills raises about $2.69 million, which covers the payment plus Treasurer and paying agent fees ($40,379 and $1,000 in the 2026 budget) with little left over. The Debt Service Fund held $254,738 at the end of 2025. Once the 2026 payment is made, $27.7 million of principal and $9.5 million of interest remain (from the audit's schedule). Rising assessed values mean the same 22 mills can raise more than the payment needs; lower values would need more mills. That trade-off is set every year when the District certifies its levy.
In 2025 the General Fund took in $3,354,124 and spent $889,142 on operations: about 27% of its revenue. The other $2.2 million went to the Capital Projects Fund. The 2026 budget raises operating spending to $1,200,000 and transfers $2,250,000. Operating costs have ranged between about $0.9 and $1.25 million a year since 2022, while General Fund property tax grew from $1.23 million (2022) to $3.06 million (2026 budget) after the levy moved from 13 to 25 mills. Once the landscape and irrigation project is finished, how much of the 25 mills is still needed is a fair question for the 2027 budget.
The landscape and irrigation project has cost $6,025,764 so far ($739,930 in 2024 and $5,285,834 in 2025, audited), and the 2026 budget adds $2,000,000. The signed 2024 agreement was $6.08 million plus a $564,220 boring allowance (see the project page). Combined fund balances fell from $4.81 million at the end of 2024 to $2.03 million at the end of 2025, and the 2026 budget expects about the same ($2.05 million) at the end of 2026.
Landscape monthly contract: $230,000 in the 2026 budget against $118,526 actually spent in 2025. District management and field supervision each ran about $22,000 (31%) over budget in 2025. Utilities ran $16,843 over in 2025 after $98,662 in 2024. Tree and shrub replacement doubles to $100,000 in 2026. Trails has been budgeted at $50,000 in 2024, 2025 and 2026 with nothing spent in 2024 or 2025. Contingency grows to $78,115 in the 2026 General Fund budget. System development fees ($54,678 in 2025) are not budgeted. The sidewalk repair work done in 2024 has no separate line in the 2024 actuals, so where its cost was recorded is an open question for the District.