The city calls them courtesy letters.
But they’re more like warning letters.
This week, the thousands of Colorado Springs property owners who haven’t paid their storm water fees started to receive letters in the mail reminding them that they have “one final chance” to pay their bills before they’re referred to collections.
“The letter included a tear-off payment coupon that lists the total amount due, including applicable late fees,” city spokeswoman Mary Scott said today in an e-mail.
“This gives those property owners one final chance to pay the fees before they (are) turned over to A-1 Collections on or about April 21, 2010,” she said.
Scott said there are about 15,000 delinquent storm water accounts, totaling about $2.5 million in past-due fees, including late fees.
“If someone owns multiple properties with delinquent fees, they would get one letter for each as it was too time-consuming to try to separate and match up owners and addresses,” she said.
Among the property owners who received multiple letters is anti-tax activist Douglas Bruce, who authored ballot Issue 300, a voter-approved initiative that prompted the City Council to eliminate the Stormwater Enterprise.
Bruce, who owns multiple properties in the Springs, is telling residents who haven’t paid their storm water fees not to pay.
“I haven’t paid for three years,” Bruce said in an e-mail to Paul Baranek, who asked Bruce for advice after receiving a so-called courtesy letter in the mail. “It’s all a bluff.”
Baranek told Bruce he stopped paying his storm water bill after Issue 300 passed.
“Now I received a letter saying I owe the last payment, plus a penalty, and if I don’t pay it within 30 days, my name will be sent to a collection agency,” Baranek said in an e-mail to Bruce, which Bruce forwarded to The Gazette.
Bruce encouraged Baranek to go to this Web site, www.cityreforms.com, for “advice on how to sue the city to get a refund.”
Sue ‘em and that’ll cost them more than the fee.
I am current on all my Stormwater tax bills until November 4th election.
After that, I tossed anything with a Stormwater logo into the trashcan with my other junk mail.
Its a Bluff.
They dont have the fiscal resources or manpower to investigate and collect on the remaining unpaid small accounts.
Its simply not cost effective to use a collection agency on the account who have a small balance.
Perhaps they will only go after the property owners who never paid at all, and have several years worth of collections to make it worth their efforts.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but the stormwater enterprise has been dissolved. So, why would I owe an entity that has been dissolved? I’m sure not going to give the money to a disinterested third party (Colo Spgs) that had nothing to do with the Stormwater Enterprise.
The City spent about a grand trying to collect a $50 parking ticket (parking in a loading zone). All they got for their efforts was a humiliating defeat in court today! I owe about $120 in stormwater taxes, so I say “bring it on”!
Pay up or else? what are they going to do, make the people pay by introducing a “Adopt a Stormwater Project” initiative?
I paid a yr in advance and received a refund check today.
Some are being threatened and others getting a check
nice
hey city government , go to hell. why don’t you go to the usoc and ask them to pay the bills. that is where the money went. a-1 collections is a joke right along with the city government. losers.
It’s OVER City of Colorado Springs, refund the money and get over it. By the way WHY HAVEN’T WE SOLD THE EQUIPMENT THAT WAS PURCHASED WITH THE STORMWATER ENTERPRISE FEE/TAX ASSOCIATED WITH THIS ENTERPRISE ($2,000,000.00 PLUS) AND REFUNDED THE TAXPAYER?
AND YOU WONDER WHY WE DO NOT TRUST THE MAYOR OR CITY COUNCIL?
go to CLARK HOWARD/CNN Copy the Drop Dead letter and send it to Stormwater, if you get one from the collection agency-send them a Drop Dead Letter! You give them any money, THEY will GIVE IT TO USOC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. We can’t pay an illegal fee to begin with!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nozolino, the entity you owe is the City of Colorado Springs. All Stormwater assets remain property of the City of Colorado Springs. If you don’t pay up It’s easy to locate your neighbors downsteam so they can sue you for negligence (triple damages) next time they get flooded.
And you wonder why the citizens don’t trust Doug bruce?
Does anyone know how to know if these were paid. I don’t ever remember paying this bill, yet I never get these bills in the mail. Are they only for certain areas of town? Are they attached to another bill? Im so confused.
Good! As someone who paid my bills I am sure sick of supporting the whiny leeches in our community who don’t want to pay for anything. Sick a collection agency on them and screw their credit rating.
TAXPAYER says: “It’s OVER City of Colorado Springs, refund the money and get over it. By the way WHY HAVEN’T WE SOLD THE EQUIPMENT THAT WAS PURCHASED WITH THE STORMWATER ENTERPRISE FEE/TAX ASSOCIATED WITH THIS ENTERPRISE ($2,000,000.00 PLUS) AND REFUNDED THE TAXPAYER?”
Ok, here’s a civics lesson. The Stormwater Enterprise may have been dissolved as of the beginning of this year BUT they still have projects on the books and funding from previous years’ collections to finish those projects out. Then the remaining staff and equipment will be dealt with. Sometimes I don’t how you people even survive in the world with so little understanding of how things work or a modicum of common sense!
LAWSUIT… blah, blah, blah. You act like you want your money back, but you didn’t pay anyway. So, go pound sand!
You want to talk about a lawsuit? What if the City were to let you non-payers off the hook? THERE’S a lawsuit in the making. But instead, it would come from those who DID pay their fee. Not you clowns who didn’t.
Did you vote away stormwater problems? Whew!! It feels good to know that we won’t have gully-washers anymore. Thanks.
I am hearing this is still all a bluff from city council—and do not pay–the money, like all the money goes to USOC
I never paid Stormwater Enterprise from day 1. No one should pay them, I just had a judge dismiss the motion to collect with Prejudice. As city council denied the public vote by allowing stormwater enterprise, they gave up the decision public vote for validity of said establishment. You should refute the collection attemps under the same scenario as I have, that city council denied public vote and imposed the same bill as a fee instead of a tax as a tacit attempt to fool the public into allowing it.
If you let things like this pass, then other people will trample your rights. Fight it and get it dismissed like I did. No artisen’s lien can be placed on a home when the services were never requested and they cant collect from you for the very same reason. If you pay the fees, you are throwing your own money away to an ENTERPRISE.