The Foothills Park & Recreation District, which serves more than 90,000 residents in South Jefferson County, will hold a mill-levy election on May 6.

The mail-in only ballot will ask residents for an increase of 3 mills. The majority of the Foothills Park & Recreation District has a current mill levy of 7.65 mills, with an exception of the Sixth Avenue West area (part of the district north of Hampden Avenue that chose to remain as unincorporated Jefferson County instead of becoming part of Lakewood) with 4.1 mills and the Kipling Villas neighborhood, which is set at 12.286.

"The Kipling Villas neighborhood is higher because they voted to add additional mills so the district could maintain all of their common areas, including walking paths, green belts and other amenities," said Kate Dragoo, community outreach specialist for Foothills Park & Recreation.

Dragoo said the average cost of a house in the Foothills district is $300,000. If the mill-levy increase passes, a house that costs $300,000 would see a $6-per-month increase, or $72 a year.

"We have a large district of about 45,000 households," Dragoo said. "But we have a larger service area than our legal boundaries. People in neighborhoods such as Grant Ranch and Roxborough use many of the Foothills Park & Recreation District's amenities."

If the mill levy passes, the money would go to numerous things around the district, including equipment replacements, general building repairs, golf course improvements, irrigation projects, park and trail maintenance and improvements, parking lots, pools, playgrounds, shelter projects at various parks and tennis court projects.

"There's no new development or debt," said Mary Pat Adams, manager of community outreach for Foothills. "The playground equipment is a big issue. We have some potentially unsafe equipment that needs to be replaced."

It has been seven years since the mill-levy rate has increased, and Foothills has felt the effect of increased operational costs. Foothills asked for a mill-levy increase during the general election in November of 2006, but the measure failed.

To make up for the increased operational costs, the district has decreased staff and limited employee raises, cut back on park and trail maintenance, eliminated equipment replacement and repair funds and has increased user fees. The district has predicted the operating deficits will begin in 2009.

"So far we have been able to reduce the budget without cutting services, but that would be no longer possible in 2009," said Adams. "Some will start in 2008."

Dragoo said pools will not close in 2008, as they are already funded through the end of the year.

To help with the election, the district has hired Community Resource Services - a local government consulting firm.

"This is the first time we are running our own mail-in ballot election," said Adams. "We hired an outside consultant because everything needs to be very precise about how things run."

Residents in the Foothills Park& Recreation District should start receiving their ballots in mid-April. People can mail them in or drop them off by 7 p.m. May 6 at the Peak Community and Wellness Center, 6612 S. Ward St., Littleton.

Click here to read the ballot question.