Eldorado Springs Wastewater Plant Borrowing

In November 2025, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued a notice of violation and cease-and-desist order over alleged violations of the Water Quality Control Division permit for the Eldorado Springs wastewater treatment plant. The Eldorado Springs Public Improvement District, formed in December 2024 to take over operation and maintenance of the plant, provides wastewater treatment and sewer service to its residents. Preliminary work on significant improvements began in 2026, on a timeline Boulder County agreed on with the division.

The three Boulder County commissioners sit as the district's board. On August 25 they voted unanimously for Resolution No. 2026-003, which sends Question 6A to the district's voters.

A yes vote lets the district increase its debt by up to $1,000,000, with a maximum repayment cost of $1,440,000 and a net effective interest rate of no more than 4 percent. The money pays for the plant improvements, incidental costs and reserves to secure the debt. Both dollar limits fall to the extent that projected costs or loan rates prove overestimated or the district secures other funding.

The board plans to borrow from the state revolving fund run by the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority. County staff put preliminary estimates of project costs and fees at $850,000 to $1,000,000, and reported the authority's current rate for this type of loan at 3.25 percent over 20 years.

Special assessments on benefited properties within Eldorado Springs Local Improvement District No. 3 repay the loan, along with any other funds the district may lawfully pledge. If voters approve the debt, the draft resolution presented to the board on August 25 commits the board to create that improvement district and to assess repayment costs on residents in relation to their equivalent residential units, a system the district's rules generally describe. County staff told the board that the new district's boundaries would match the public improvement district's and that forming it requires a public hearing and a board resolution, likely after the election.

The district's advisory committee and residents at public meetings in August preferred assessments to a property tax levy, so the question seeks no mill levy. The question makes the assessment revenue, earnings on it and investment earnings on the loan proceeds a voter-approved revenue change, exempt from TABOR's revenue limit.

Under the same draft resolution, the authority voters grant is continuing: the district may incur the debt at one time or from time to time, and neither partial use nor any lapse of time exhausts it.