Improvement Districts
Section 12.1. Power To Construct Improvements and Create Improvement Districts.
The City shall have the power to contract for, construct, or
install special or local improvements of every character within
designated districts of said City, and to assess the cost thereof wholly
or in part upon the property especially benefited. The City Council
shall by ordinance prescribe the method and manner of making such
improvements, of letting contracts therefor, assessing the cost thereof;
and issuing and paying bonds for costs and expenses of the organization
of said districts and of construction or installation of said
improvements. The creation of any local improvement district shall be
subject, however, to protest by the majority of the owners of the
property to be assessed, except in case the City shall pay one-half or
more of the total cost of the improvements made. Nothing herein
contained shall be construed to limit the power of the City Council to
otherwise act in accordance with the Constitution and statutes of
Colorado in carrying out such purposes.
Section 12.2. Surplus and Deficiency Fund.
All special or local improvements, except as the City may
contribute to the cost thereof, shall be paid for in public improvement
bonds, and all monies collected on account of the assessments for any
improvements shall be applied to the payment of the bonds (and interest)
issued therefor, until the payment of all the said bonds. Where all
outstanding bonds of a special or local improvement district have been
paid and any monies remain to the credit of the district, they shall be
transferred to a special surplus and deficiency fund; and whenever there
is a deficiency in any special or local improvement district fund to
meet the payments of outstanding bonds and interest due thereon, the
deficiency shall be paid out of said surplus and deficiency fund.
Whenever a special or local improvement district has paid and canceled
three-fourths of its bonds issued, and for any reason the remaining
assessments are not paid in time to take up the remaining bonds of the
district and the interest due thereon, and there is not sufficient money
in the special surplus and deficiency fund, the the City shall pay said
bonds when due and the interest due thereon, and reimburse itself by
collecting the unpaid assessments due said district.
Section 12.3. Improvement District Bonds - General Benefit.
In consideration of the general benefits conferred on the City
at large from the construction or installation of improvements in
special or local improvement districts, the City Council may levy annual
taxes on all taxable property within the City at a rate not exceeding
two (2) mills in any one (1) year, to be disbursed as determined by the
City Council for the purpose of advancing money to maintain current
payments of interest and equal annual payments of the principal amount
of bonds issued for any special or local improvement district
thereinafter created. The proceeds of such taxes shall be placed in a
special fund and shall be disbursed only for the purposes specified
herein; provided however that in lieu of such tax levies, the City
Council may annually transfer to such special fund any available money
of the City, but in no event shall the amount transferred in any one (1)
year exceed the amount which would result from a tax levied in such
year as herein limited. In addition to the above, the Council may
finance the City's share of the cost of any special improvement project,
whether or not such cost is assessed against City-owned property, by
the issuance of special improvement district bonds, and shall
appropriate annually an amount sufficient for the payment of that
portion of the share of such costs then due. Such bonds shall not be
subject to any
election requirement or debt limitation
which might otherwise exist pursuant to this Charter or other applicable
law. (As amended 11-4-75)
Section 12.4. Review of Improvement District Proceedings.
No action or proceeding, at law or in equity, to review any
acts or proceedings, or to question the validity or enjoin the
performance of any act, or the issue or collection of any bonds, or the
levy or collection of any assessments, authorized by this Chapter, or
for any other relief against any acts or proceedings done or had under
this Chapter, or of the City, with reference thereto, whether based upon
irregularities or jurisdictional defects, shall be maintained, unless
commenced within thirty (30) days after the performance of the act or
the passage of the resolution or ordinance complained of, or else be
thereafter perpetually barred. (As amended 9-24-74)