North Range Metropolitan District No. 3

Repealing the 2014 Capital Tax Authority in North Range Metropolitan District No. 3

Voter approval requirementRepeal of a 2014 capital tax authority

Repeals North Range Metro District No. 3's 2014 authority to levy up to $20 million a year for capital projects; new capital taxes would need voter approval.

North Range Metropolitan District No. 3

Kim's Recommendation

YES

Vote Yes on North Range Metropolitan District No. 3 Ballot Issue 6C

Ballot Issue 5B lets the board of North Range Metropolitan District No. 3 levy up to $20 million a year in property taxes for the capital costs of public improvements, with no further election. Every elector who granted that power in 2014 worked for the company that owned all the land in the district, or was married to someone who did. The comment filed in favor of 6C puts the full levy at $16,625 a home each year.

A property tax for construction reaches every home in the district, and the homeowners there should approve each new one. Issue 6C repeals the 2014 grant, and from then on any future tax for new capital public improvements needs specific authorization from the district's voters.

I recommend a yes vote on North Range Metropolitan District No. 3 Ballot Issue 6C.

Kim Monson

Host, The Kim Monson Show · President, Colorado Union of Taxpayers · Colorado Voter's Guide 2026

Certified ballot question

PROHIBIT FUNDING OF CAPITAL PROJECTS OUTSIDE OF VOTER ESTABLISHED OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE TAX LIMITATION

SHALL BALLOT ISSUE 5B, UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED BY SEVEN VOTERS AT A SPECIAL ELECTION HELD ON NOVEMBER 04, 2014, BE FOREVER REPEALED AND RESCINDED EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, WHICH BALLOT ISSUE CURRENTLY AUTHORIZES NORTH RANGE METROPOLITAN DISTRICT NO. 3 TO LEVY UP TO $20,000,000 ANNUALLY IN AD VALOREM TAXES FOR THE PURPOSE OF FUNDING THE CAPITAL COSTS OF PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS; SUCH REPEAL AND RESCISSION SHALL NOT IMPAIR OR ADVERSELY IMPACT PERFORMANCE UNDER ANY EXISTING VALID AND LAWFUL CONTRACTS, AGREEMENTS OR INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENTS, BUT SHALL PREVENT ENTERING INTO ANY FUTURE MULTIPLE FISCAL YEAR FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS TO FUND CAPITAL COSTS THAT ARE NOT SUBJECT TO ANNUAL APPROPRIATION OR ANY FUTURE TAXES FOR NEW CAPITAL PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS WITHOUT SPECIFIC VOTER AUTHORIZATION?

A yes vote means

Repeals the 2014 capital tax authority while protecting performance under existing valid and lawful contracts, agreements and intergovernmental agreements. Taxes for new capital public improvements and new multi-year capital obligations not subject to annual appropriation would need specific voter authorization.

A no vote means

The 2014 authority would remain.

The Capital Tax Authority01

Ballot Issue 5B, approved in 2014 by seven voters with none opposed, lets North Range Metropolitan District No. 3 levy up to $20,000,000 a year in property taxes for the capital costs of public improvements. The board can set that levy in any year, up to the ceiling, without another election. According to the district's 2025 budget assumptions, every elector at that November 4, 2014 election worked for Shea Homes Limited Partnership, then the owner of all land in the district, or was the spouse of an employee.

The district's boundaries take in 1,203 homes in the Reunion community of Commerce City, and all five directors on its board are homeowners there. The comment filed in favor of 6C divides the 5B ceiling among those homes at $16,625 a house each year. For 2025, the same budget assumptions show two levies adopted: 25.705 mills for operations and 72.545 mills for debt service.

New Projects Need a Vote02

A yes vote rescinds 5B for good, with immediate effect. The text protects performance under existing valid and lawful contracts, agreements and intergovernmental agreements. After that, any future tax for new capital public improvements, and any multiple-fiscal-year obligation for capital costs that is not subject to annual appropriation, needs specific authorization from the district's voters.

In the county's TABOR notice, the 5B authority carries $20,000,000 of principal and $164,000,000 of repayment cost, both the annual maximum and the total. A yes vote takes each figure to $0. The same notice lists the district's current bonded debt at $55,566,000 in principal outstanding, with $123,897,659 left to repay. The only comment in the notice, filed in favor, says the repeal does not stop the district from collecting taxes for its current infrastructure. The question raises no tax and asks for no exemption from TABOR's revenue limits.

Two companion questions reach the district's other standing authority: 6A repeals all unused debt authorization from prior elections, listed at $840,000,000 in principal, and 6B repeals the 2014 Ballot Issue 5D levy of up to $280,000,000 a year for multiple-fiscal-year agreements.

Capital Projects and the Operations Cap03

Issue 6C's ballot heading calls it a ban on funding capital projects outside the voter-set cap on the operations and maintenance tax. Issue 6D, a separate question, lowers that cap from $20,000,000 a year to $9,000,000, adjusted for inflation, if it passes. Neither question is conditioned on the other.

Sources04

Official documents