Scientific And Cultural Facilities District (SCFD)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Scientific & Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) is Colorado’s unique commitment to its arts, cultural and scientific institutions through a special tax district. A penny sales tax for every $10 purchase in the seven-county SCFD goes to support more than 300 non-profit organizations – from the smallest community groups to the largest regional museums.
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[edit] What Is The SCFD?
In 1988, voters in a six-county area centered on Denver created the SCFD to provide a consistent source of unrestricted funding to scientific and cultural organizations. Since then, the SCFD has funded over 300 organizations via the 0.1% retail sales and use tax (one penny on every $10). Voter reauthorizations in 1994 and 2004 changed some details of SCFD operations. The next reauthorization election is scheduled for the year 2018.
The SCFD is a special regional tax district that has physical boundaries contiguous with the Regional Transportation District (RTD). The SCFD uses RTD boundaries for convenience of tax collection.
As of 2006, all or part of eight counties -- Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson, and Weld -- comprise the district. Six of these counties -- all except Boulder and Weld -- are within the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area.
The SCFD, in compliance with its authorizing Colorado statute, distributes over $38 million to local organizations on an annual basis. These organizations must provide for the enlightenment and entertainment of the public through the production, presentation, exhibition, advancement or preservation of art, music, theater, dance, zoology, botany, natural history or cultural history. Administrative expenses of SCFD are statutorily limited to 0.75% of revenues.
A ten-member board of directors oversees the distributions in accordance with the Colorado Revised Statutes. Seven board members are appointed by county commissioners (in Denver, the Denver City Council) and three members are appointed by the Governor of Colorado.
As directed by statute, SCFD recipient organizations are currently divided into three "tiers.":
- Tier I includes five major regional institutions: the Denver Art Museum, the Denver Botanic Gardens, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (added to this list in 2006), the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and the Denver Zoo. As of 2006, Tier I receives 65.5% of SCFD disbursements.
- Tier II currently includes 25 regional organizations, each having an operating income in 2005 of $924,435 or more, adjusted annually for inflation. As of 2006, Tier II receives 21%.
- Tier III has over 280 local organizations such as small theaters, orchestras, art centers and natural history, cultural history and community groups. Tier III organizations apply for funding to the county cultural councils via a grant process. As of 2006, this tier receives 13.5%.
[edit] Benefits
Local citizens benefit greatly from SCFD-funded activities. More than 11 million people, twice the population of Colorado, attended metro area scientific and cultural activities in 2004, according to a 2004 survey conducted by the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts and Deloitte Touche. At $13.62 per capita the SCFD provides an exceptional return on the public's investment. Furthermore, because the SCFD tax is a "sale and use tax", almost 860,000 out-of-state visitors defray the cost by spending millions of dollars on tourism.
