City, Bruce battle over proposed ballot issue

A city attorney and anti-tax activist Douglas Bruce squared off in district court Thursday over a ballot issue Bruce is trying to petition onto the November ballot.

Fourth Judicial District Judge Rebecca Bromley said she’ll issue a ruling this morning.

The proposed ballot issue would overturn the city’s new stormwater fee, require voter approval to create future enterprise funds and lower the city’s property tax.

The city’s Title Board rejected the measure late last week, saying it violates a state law limiting ballot questions to a single topic.

Bruce is asking the court to force the city to print the ballot issue on petitions so he can begin gathering signatures.

Senior City Attorney Shane White first argued the case shouldn’t be in court because Bruce failed to exhaust “administrative remedies” available to him.

Bruce should have asked the board for a rehearing, he said, and could have appealed to the City Council.

Bruce argued the city ordinance says a person “may” seek a rehearing from the board, but it’s not required.

“You don’t put people through these discouraging hurdles to exercise their right to petition,” Bruce said. “We’re facing a hostile City Council, a hostile Title Board and a hostile city clerk before we even start collecting signatures.”

Bruce also argued his proposal fits the one-topic rule.

“They are all connected,” said Bruce, an El Paso County commissioner.

Bruce says the stormwater fee, enacted by the City Council in December, is really a new tax that required voter approval. The city expects to collect $14.6 million in stormwater fees this year.

While the proposed ballot issue doesn’t mention the stormwater enterprise by name, the first sentence would stop the city from collecting the fee unless approved by city voters.

The city also contends Bruce is attempting to put an administrative matter before voters, which is prohibited by state law.