Developer metro district abuse must be stopped

Letters to the Editor

Re: “Developers can still abuse taxpayers,” May 1 editorial

I wholeheartedly agree with your editorial. The developers take advantage of legal devices to continue abusing the homeowners who buy into their projects.

These metro district bonds are the closest thing to immortality there is on this Earth, and the only true beneficiaries are the developers who rake in millions of dollars over and above the profits they make on the homes themselves.

I just attended an “open house” where the developer touted all the wonderful things they have done and will do for us, but the true cost paid by us was glossed over and an honest answer to homeowner questions was not available. The cherry on top was the disclosure that all the metro special districts are what developers used to insensitively call “slaves” to a “master” district. The “master” dictates the mill levies that the “slave” districts are required to put on the homeowners.

It is cleverly constructed so that even if and when the resident homeowners get elected to their respective boards, the master is insulated and will never be taken over by homeowners.

In our case, the “master” has no actual residents, only fictional “residents” who are employees or shareholders of the developer. We will eventually get out from under these usurious bonds, as state law limits the life of the bond-issuing capability to a mere 40 years. That’s about twice as long as my remaining life expectancy.

I applaud your sunlighting of this abuse and strongly urge our state representatives to put an end to it.

Jack Sosebee, Commerce City