On Oct. 21, the Falcon Highlands Metropolitan Districtís board of directors held another town hall meeting at the Falcon Fire Protection District fire station No. 3 to present information on proposed upgrades to the districtís water system and information about a corresponding ballot question to authorize funding for the upgrades. The first town hall meeting was held Aug. 26.All members of the FHMD board were present, along with the following: Barbara Vander Wall and Jeffrey Erb from Seter & Vander Wall P.C., the districtís legal counsel; Carrie Bartow and Cynthia Beyer from CliftonLarsonAllen LLP, the districtís accounting and management team; and Mike Barnes from Kennedy/Jenks Consultants, the districtís engineering consultant.Erb presented information on the ballot measure, which will appear on the Nov. 7 ballot. He said the ballot question, while confusing in its wording, simply asks residents to authorize the FHMD board to do two things: refinance the current bonds and borrow up to $4 million in additional funding without increasing property taxes. ìThe demand (for water) is higher than originally planned,î Erb said. ìThe district is taking steps to lower that demand by seeking usage cuts both in commercial and residential properties.î But the current amount of water the district can access is not enough to support the expected growth in the area, he said.Kevin Haas, FHMD board treasurer, said there are three options for the district to access additional water: tap into Colorado Springsí water system; tap into Woodmen Hills Metropolitan Districtís water system; or access water currently owned by the district via new or current wells. Regardless of which direction the board takes, nothing can be done without the authorization to proceed, and that means the ballot question must pass, he said.About 20 residents of FHMD attended the meeting, and several spoke out about their concerns with the ballot question. One resident said he was concerned about the districtís poor performance in the past, and it did not seem wise to give the board the opportunity to borrow more money when the district has ìconsistently been in dire financial straits.îOther residents voiced concern about the wording of the ballot question, which appears to allow the district the authority to increase the debt by $10.9 million annually. Additionally, the ballot question lists 8 percent as the highest interest rate at which the district could refinance their current bond, but the current interest rate is 7.625 percent.Erb said TABOR restrictions do not allow the district to refinance for a higher interest rate than what it is currently paying. Also, the $10.9 million price tag would not be annually but over a 30-year lifetime loan assessed at 8 percent interest, he said. Much of the wording that seems confusing is due to TABOR laws that require it to be written that way, Erb said.ìWe are required to write the question that way, showing the worst-case-scenario,î he said.Erb said it seemed that many of the residents would like to see more concrete plans for how the money will be spent, how much money the district needs for each option and what the interest rate will be on both the refinanced bond and the newly-borrowed money.Pete Beim, a resident who has lived in the district for more than 2 years, asked what the fallout would be if the ballot measure did not pass.ìNothing happens,î Erb said. ìThere will be no more new development.îHaas said it is to the districtís advantage to let the developers come in and build on the vacant land they own. Not only would it give the district additional funds through tap fees, but also it would provide a wider property tax base.ìThe board is in support of this ballot question,î Erb said. ìThe business community is in support of it. The board makes the final decision on what will be the best solution, but they cannot do anything unless they have been given the authority through this ballot question.î
