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1/22/2020 Denver Post investigation into Colorado's metro districts reveals billions in debt paid by homeowners <br />"Most of these metro districts are set up as a very cozy relationship," <br />Wolfersberger said. <br />If the number of new homes didn't keep up with the schedule to repay the <br />bonds, homeowners would quickly find themselves in a jam as taxes <br />reached their zenith. For the Sterkels, had they stayed, they would have <br />been in their 60s by the time the streets they drove or the sidewalks they <br />walked in their neighborhood would be paid for. <br />That's if things went according to plan. They didn't. <br />"We had the biggest increase in our first year, about $700 right away," <br />Patrick Horell said of his property taxes at Thompson River Ranch. "The <br />next time, it went up another $200. Our values were the same, but the levy <br />kept increasing. It just keeps increasing and doesn't look like it will stop." <br />Joe Amon, The Denver Post <br />Patrick and Katherine Horell with their four -month -old daughter Emerson and <br />Aspen, the family golden retriever, in their home at the Thompson River Ranch <br />community in Johnstown on Oct. 14, 2019. <br />The Sterkels also watched as their tax bill kept climbing out of reach, <br />seemingly without explanation. Their home was foreclosed in 2016, just <br />two years after they signed the papers to buy it. Their taxes had exploded to <br />nearly $5,000, most of it to pay for the metro district's debt. <br />"We tried everything we could to find a way to keep our house," Tlene said. <br />https://www.denverpost.com/2019/12/05/metro-districts-debt-democracy-colorado-housing-development/ 40 14/19 <br />