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1/22/2020 Denver Post investigation into Colorado's metro districts reveals billions in debt paid by homeowners <br />In Thompson Crossing, for example, homeowners' property taxes haven't <br />been enough to repay bonds the district sold 13 years ago to build its <br />infrastructure — the sidewalks, sewers, streets, and water lines. A <br />refinancing plan has sunk the community deeper into debt, forcing some <br />homeowners to try and sell their way out, while others, like the Sterkels, <br />fell to foreclosure. <br />The Sterkels admit they could have been better consumers and checked for <br />the property tax details of their community before purchasing. But with no <br />tax history in a new development, it's unclear how much they could have <br />learned about the tax obligations they would eventually face or the tax <br />promises the metro district had made long before their home was ever <br />built. <br />"It just doesn't seem that difficult to let a homebuyer in a new development <br />know what to expect," Sterkel said. "It almost seems dishonest not to:' <br />The law doesn't require developers to make readily available or easily <br />found the types of disclosures the Sterkels say could have helped them. <br />Information about future property taxes are often not provided to buyers <br />in new developments, minimal warnings about the general risks of a <br />special taxing district are buried deep in a stack of mortgage paperwork, <br />and complex tax advisories and transparency notices are filed with <br />relatively unknown government offices rather than given to the <br />homeowners they're intended to inform. <br />' RELATED. Read more from this Denver Post investigation here. <br />.................................................................................................................................................................. <br />"It is us who give (developers) the power of taxation," said Loveland Mayor <br />Jacki Marsh, whose city wrestles with development and has approved only <br />a handful of metro districts, Centerra the largest among them. "It's un- <br />American, really. The metro district, when it's formed, now has the <br />authority to tax people who don't even live there yet, to borrow money that <br />other people have to pay back. And it's only a couple of people making that <br />decision:' <br />https://www.denverpost.com/2019/12/05/metro-districts-debt-democracy-colorado-housing-development/ 30 4/19 <br />