Angry callers unload on Stormwater Enterprise

Angry callers flooded the Colorado Springs Stormwater Enterprise Customer Service Center Friday to vent about the city's decision to go after property owners who haven't paid their bills.

The Stormwater Enterprise, which is owed more than $2.44 million altogether in past-due fees, has been lenient on delinquent property owners in the past.

But this summer, it's going to start demanding payment from people who owe money. If they refuse to pay up, a priority lien will be placed on their property.

News of the city's plans, reported first in The Gazette, triggered a spate of complaints.

Some callers dared the Stormwater Enterprise to attach a lien on their property because they're just not going to pay for what many consider is a tax, not a fee.

Other callers, however, were mad at the city for waiting so long to collect unpaid fees.

"Some people calling are saying, ‘Go ahead and file the lien. You're never going to get money from me.' The other people are calling and saying, ‘I can't believe you've waited this long to collect from the people who haven't paid,'" city spokeswoman Mary Scott said.

"We're kind of seeing it on both sides," she said.

Scott could not provide the exact number of calls that went into the Customer Service Center Friday, but the center said its call volume had increased by about 50 percent.

The stormwater fees, which have been controversial from the start, went into effect in 2007. While most property owners have been paying their bills, others simply refuse.

The city is refusing to identify which property owners owe the most money, saying it needs to "protect customer privacy" to the best of its ability.

"I haven't paid it since it started," said a woman who declined to give her name, fearing the city would single her out and make her an example.

"I think they're just bullying us. I mean, the City Council can just vote anything in," she said.

The woman said she wasn't concerned if the city placed a lien on her home.

"I'll live in it until I die," she said. "They can lien it all they want."

The woman said she gets a quarterly bill of $28.05.

The bill "is not very much, but it's just the principle of the thing," she said.

Municipal stormwater fees have twice been challenged in cases that ultimately reached the Colorado Supreme Court.

In each case, the court ruled in favor of the municipality.

The first involved the city of Denver, which was hit with a class action lawsuit claiming, among other things, that an ordinance dealing with stormwater fees and service charges "was an unconstitutional property tax," according to a report by the National Association of Flood and Stormwater Management Agencies.

"The Supreme Court disagreed," the report states.

In the second case, the city of Littleton tried to collect stormwater fees owed by state-owned school properties.

The court "found the charge was not a tax or special assessment, but a service fee reasonably designed to meet the overall costs of the service provided," the report states.
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