City Council Study Session Agenda and Packet 2020 01 28

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1/22/2020 Metro districts in Colorado have little transparency on transfer fees, community funds It turned into a back -and -forth ordeal without resolution. Dozens of metropolitan districts across Colorado have for years collected hundreds of dollars, sometimes thousands, from homeowners who sell their houses, a fee assessed no matter how frequently a home is sold, according to a Denver Post analysis of how the districts function. A portion of the collected fees is given to the district's developers. The rest is to be used for the benefit of the community through a nonprofit of the developer's choice. Nearly all of the districts that assess the fee will be doing it into the next century. But there are no requirements for anyone to divulge how the community portion of the funds is to be spent, who will manage the funds, and residents of the metro districts don't necessarily have a say in where it goes, The Post found. The fees are just one of many funding streams developers have created to profit from the subdivisions they build. The Post on Sunday highlighted ................................................................................................... how property taxes within metro districts can rise almost without limit to .......................................................................................................................................................... pay for a community's infrastructure — sidewalks, streets, sewers and lighting — and how developers and builders can profit handsomely from the setup. Metro district residents say they're confounded by the additional fees, especially when it appears their community is to be the beneficiary, only to learn it's not that simple. "This is not rocket science," said James Gertson. "A two-sided basketball court for everyone to use. Should be easy, but I gave up trying:' For the past five years, residents of the Thompson Crossing Metropolitan District in Larimer County who sell their homes have paid the district a fee. At Thompson Crossing, the transfer fee is 0.5% of the sales price, so a house that sells for $250,000 would owe a $1,250 transfer fee to the district. Three-quarters of that amount — or $937.50 — goes to the developer to help cover expenses for building the community. The rest, about $312, goes into a nonprofit foundation at the metro district that is called the Thompson River Ranch Foundation. https://www.denverpost.com/2019/12/09/metro-districts-transfer-fees-nonprofits-foundations/ 46 2/9