Broomfield Taxpayer Matters

July 15, 2024

This newsletter contains the following stories and information:

Attend the next Make Your Voice Heard event - Colorado Legislature and Town Halls
Council Passed Ballot Measures including Increasing their Terms on First Reading
Confusion Abounds with Ordinance 2239 Affecting Broomfield Municipal Elections
Finally! The Water Tanks are on the Agenda - July23rd
Council Agendas for July 16th and July 23rd, 2024
City Council member contact information

Pay Attention to these upcoming items in the Agendas:

July 16th - Study Session
Enterprise Funds Update
Broomfield Housing Alliance Update
Councilmember (CM) Delgadillo Request for Future Action Regarding Council Compensation
July 23rd - Regular Meeting
Public Hearing - North Area Buried Water Tanks and Pump Station

Please let us know if you plan to attend by registering here.

“Well done is better than well said.”

― Benjamin Franklin

Local News

Our next "Make Your Voice Heard" session quickly approaching, and we would love to have you join us!

Sheryl Fernandez will be with us again and will be presenting on:

"The Colorado Legislature and Town Halls"

Saturday, July 20 2024 from 2-4PM

Check-in begins at 1:30pm

Please register today to join us at this informative session.*

* Event Location: will be in Broomfield, exact location will be sent after sign up is completed.

Broomfield Taxpayer’s Mission is to raise the awareness of Broomfield taxpayers of by arming them with information regarding the policies of the City and County of Broomfield that impact us civically and financially.

We empower citizens to ask the hard questions, demand truth and accuracy, and request changes in the public policies of our municipal government and elected officials that limit citizens’ economic and personal freedoms.

* Broomfield Taxpayer Matters is a 501(c)4 organization. We reserve the right to accept or reject any reservation request for this event.

" Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light." - George Washington

Council Passed all Ballot Measures, including increasing their Term Limits, on First Reading. Final Council vote on measures by August 13th.

The City Council is back at it, this time putting forward several ballot measures to change the Broomfield's Charter this November. In an election year when there will be no fewer than nine state wide ballot measures, the City Council is eager to slam at least six local ballot measures that all affect the Charter onto the ballot.

Broomfield Taxpayer Matters along with many citizens asked the Council to slow down with the proposed Charter changes, especially in a heavy ballot measure election year. However, in typical fashion, the majority of Council is ignoring public concerns and going for the gusto with plans to overload the November ballot, even over repeated concerns of voter fatigue raised by some councilmembers.

At the July 9 2024 City Council meeting, many community members brought up some of the questions we raised in our July 5th Call To Action. Several people also wrote the council about their concerns (interestingly not all written public correspondence with council has been posted there).

This is your right as citizens to question and interact with your elected representatives. It is their responsibility to seriously take that into consideration, including concerns of the unintended consequences of any major change to the city's Charter. Don't let them bully you into thinking your concerns weren't valid, you were thinking of those in the community that could possibly be hurt by the changes.

Back to their latest push on ballot measures....The first among them is the City Council's desire to increase councilmember term limits and number of consecutive years for councilmembers by 50%.

Couple that with the June 18 2024 study session discussion to increase their pay by 335% - a topic they intend to revisit in the July 16 Study Session - it's abundantly clear that they are focusing their time and energy on increasing their pay and their power, and spending as little time as possible on the real problems facing the Broomfield community (see the water tower story below).

Here's the list of potential ballot measures that could appear on the November 2024 ballot if the City Council passes them on second reading in mid-August:

Ordinance 2243 - Ballot Question Section 4.3: Increase Term Limits (first reading vote vote 6-for, 4-against)
Ordinance 2344 - Ballot Question Section 6.4 - Rezone by Resolution (first reading vote unanimous)
Ordinance 2345 - Ballot Question Section 6.9 - Publication of Ordinances on Website (first reading vote vote unanimous)
Ordinance 2346 - Ballot Question Chapter IX - Personnel Merit System (first reading vote vote unanimous)
Ordinance 2347 - Ballot Question Chapter X - Legal and Judiciary (first reading vote vote unanimous)

Note: During the May 1, 2023 meeting, CRC Chair Sam Taylor stated that the proposed changes to the Broomfield City and County Charter would not be ready for a vote of the people until probably 2025. This means that the Council has determined that these ordinances take priority over water, infrastructure discussions, and other pressing financial needs of the community.

Confusion Reigns with Council Approved Ordinance 2239 - The Elections Ballot Initiative

We also need to update you on the Council's first ballot measure asking voters to change how Broomfield's elections are managed, changing the Title XXXI (municipal) laws to Title I (coordinated) laws.

This should have been a reasonable and straightforward ballot measure. Unfortunately, the City Council can't help themselves and are bringing additional changes on how Broomfield's elections would be managed if the ballot measure is approved by the voters.

Here was the "red-line" of the Charter Review Committee recommended for Section 3.5 (Recall) of the Charter:

"the elected official ... may be recalled any time after ~~90 days~~ six months [due to timing challenges in the clerk's office]"

The Charter Review Committee's recommendation was pretty straightforward, but the Council wants more control specifically around recall elections. During the April 16, 2024 Study Session, Councilmember Marsh-Holschen proposed language to change recalls including timing and grounds for recall petitions and modifying the vacancy procedures for filling that position.

Councilmember Henkel (who along with Councilmember Cohen) faced a recall in 2023, agreed with this approach suggesting that "...there was really seemingly no local control" on recall elections and added that "...if we and you can put recall provisions in a charter and if you do then that trumps the state law." (April 16th Study Session)

To those ends, here's the "red-line" to section Section 3.5 (Recall) of the Charter that the Council reviewed and approved with Ordinance 2239:

"Any election official or elected officer of the City and County may be ~~recalled at any time after 90 days in office~~ by the electors entitled to vote for a successor of such incumbent through the procedure in the manner provided for by Title I of the Colorado Revised Statutes as now existing or hereafter amended or modified, except as otherwise provided in this Charter or as Council may prescribe by ordinance. ~~in Article XXI of the State Constitution. Consistent with the Constitution and this Charter, the Council may provide by ordinance for further recall procedures."~~

(our emphasis added)

Why did the Council shoe-horn the above change into Section 3.5 of the ballot measure? We at BTM have taken hours to try and unpack this, and others have contacted city staff for clarifications on the implications of this wording. From what we can gather, the above wording change to Section 3.5 of the Charter would allows Council to pass an ordinance that will "trump" state law and allow them to set the procedures and rules by taking Article XXI out of the Charter document.

So, the answer comes down to their desire to put themselves in control of how recalls are managed. Rather than keep the ballot measure straightforward and clean and reduce possible controversy or confusion by simply modifying Section 3.1 and 3.2 to make Title I the controlling law as suggested by Manager Hoffman, they are hoping you won't worry about the implications in these fine details, and simply pass it and increase their power and control.

Since the Ordinance 2239 is confusing and opens the door wide open to abuse by the City Council in the future, we currently have the position that this ballot measure should be voted down in November.

If passed, the ballot measure will reduce the ability of "WE THE PEOPLE" to decide who represents us in the case of future recall elections.

Finally! The Water Tanks are on the Agenda!

After more than 300 days of no real actions or decisions on the Broomfield water tanks, the City Council will finally take this important issue back up. But not until the July 23, 2024 council meeting.

In advance of that, the council will first hold a Study Session review of the Enterprise Funds on July 16, 2024. Does the review of the Enterprise Fund hold good news or bad news for Broomfield residents? Here are some highlights from the staff memo.

1) Your water rates are about to go up again, this time by at least 50%.

In the 2022 Water Study, the City and County of Broomfield said their goal "was to determine best practices for working towards environmental sustainability to encourage water conservation."

If what is outlined in the staff memo comes to pass, this will be the 3rd water rate increase in three years. The average bill will go up to $119.90, a 50% increase in 1 year, or a 77% increase since 2022. It will raise Broomfield's average water bill from the 10th lowest in to the 4th highest among cities in the metro area.

Here is a history of the recent water rate increases passed by Broomfield City Council:

September 13, 2022

Monthly Water Rate Fixed Charges (Base Fee) for Single Family 3/4-inch tap increased from $10.47 to $14.31, a 37% increase
Water Volume Rates ($/1000), Single Family
0 to 5,000 gal: increase from $3.36 to $2.26
5,001 to 20,000 gal: from $3.36 to $3.33
> 20,000 gal: from $3.36 to $4.52
Sewer rates increased from $3.46 x AWC (average water consumption) to $3.63 x AWC
Environmental Compliance Fee - $4.00
Federal Mandate - $0.52
Water License Fees, Sewer License Fees, and Water Reclamation Fees increased from $49,693 to $62,560, a 26% increase

September 19, 2023

Monthly Water Rate Fixed Charges (Base Fee) for Single Family 3/4-inch tap increased from $14.31 to $16.94, an 18% increase, or a 62% increase in 2 years
Water Volume Rates ($/1000), Single Family
0 to 5,000 gal: increase from $2.26 to $2.39
5,001 to 9,000 gal: from $3.36 to $3.82
> 20,000 gal: from $4.52 to $5.41
Sewer rates increased from $3.63 x AWC (average water consumption) to $4.46 x AWC
Environmental Compliance Fee increased from $4.00 to $6.00
Federal Mandate - no change from $0.52
Water License Fees, Sewer License Fees, and Water Reclamation Fees increased from $62,560 to $63,960
Based on 9,000 gallons for water and 6,000 gallons for sewer the total bill increased from $67.82 to $80.05.

2) City and County of Broomfield Debt is about to go up dramatically.

At the same that the City Council is ratcheting up water rates, they are now facing a serious funding issue when it comes to Broomfield's water infrastructure. Broomfield has raised tap fees on developers in the recent past, resulting in builders reducing permitting in Broomfield, causing a major shortfall in Broomfield's residential permits. See the graphs below.

This means the Residential Permits which funds the Enterprise Fund (Water and Sewer Infrastructure) are waaaaay down. Broomfield is in trouble with their water infrastructure demands vs revenues.

So what is Broomfield's answer to addressing this significant enterprise budget problem?

Besides raising your water rates...again?

Taking on more debt, of course. And a lot more debt. This coming from the self proclaimed "most fiscally responsible City Council in Broomfield's history". They are now looking at an approach where Broomfield could take on an additional $172 million in debt.

What would the money for this increased debt be used for? Well, let's go back to the water tanks.

North Area Water Tanks and Pump Station - $58 million. Keep in mind, the costs for the tanks have risen from ~$50 million in the 2023 CIP Plan to $90 million for fully buried tanks.
Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion - $114 million. This is a significant capital project needed to expand Broomfield's Waste Water treatment, with a total cost of $526 million.

These serious capital/enterprise challenges have been in front of Broomfield for some time.

Rather than deal with these issues, this Council has been using staff's time to put charter ordinances on the ballot and other items that only help them. The Council has ignored the real priorities facing the community.

This looming enterprise funding problem is risking Broomfield's financial stability and existing bond ratings, see the following statement on page 12 of the staff memo:

"Broomfield has yet to have the required 180 days of cash in each Enterprise fund. This results in Broomfield potentially not being able to bond for future capital projects, which in turn runs the risk of negatively impacting Broomfield’s overall bond rating (noted below).

● Sewer Bonds = Moody’s Aa3 (Insured) Moody’s Aa2 (Uninsured)

● Water Revenue Bonds = Moody’s Aa2

● Water Reclamation Bonds = Moody’s Aa2 (Uninsured) Moody’s Aa3 (Insured)"

We have be sounding the alarm on Broomfield's financial situation for some time now. You can see where we saw things a year ago. Now, the situation appears to be getting worse.

As we've said in the past...hold on to your wallets folks.

“However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.” ― George Washington