City, county at odds over collecting stormwater money

A battle is brewing between Colorado Springs and El Paso County over the collection of delinquent storm-water bills.

The city wants to turn over nearly 10,000 past-due accounts to the county treasurer for collection by mid-November, but the treasurer is being cautioned against putting them on the 2010 property tax bills.

County Attorney William Louis sent a letter to County Treasurer Sandra Damron on Oct. 30, warning that the city-owned Stormwater Enterprise, which residents voted to phase out in Tuesday’s election, might not be entitled to use the county treasurer’s office to collect the fees.

“Although hospitals and golf courses are operated by the private sector as well as by the public sector, there is no private sector hospital or golf course that can avail itself of this coercive power,” the letter states.

Normally, the county treasurer simply acts as a middleman, collecting the taxes and then passing them back to municipalities. But if the stormwater fees are, in fact, a fee and not a tax, the city should be barred from using “government’s most coercive powers, the tax lien collection process,” to collect payments, Louis writes.

“My view is the use of the property tax system to collect enterprise fees is not appropriate,” said Commissioner Wayne Williams, who provided a copy of the letter to The Gazette.

Damron, who is independently elected and does not have to follow the advice of county officials, said she has not made any decisions. “I’m waiting for the city to decide what they’re going to do.”

Damron confirmed that she met with Mayor Lionel Rivera last week to discuss the matter. “They gave me their legal opinion and I gave them our legal opinion.”

Damron also pointed out that the county attorney’s letter offered a counter argument, which states that since the Stormwater Enterprise is owned by the city, then the city has the right to ask the treasurer’s office to put the fees on property-tax bills.

Last spring, the city began sending out letters telling delinquent property owners to pony up or face greater costs. City spokeswoman Mary Scott said Thursday the number of delinquent accounts has dropped from 12,182 to 9,624. The total amount owed is $1,770,930.

Scott said the city is still going to try and recoup the past-due amounts unless otherwise directed by the City Council.

But it may have to look elsewhere for a bill collector.