Transparency For Metropolitan Districts

Under current law, prior to filing a petition for the organization of a special district in a district court, the people proposing the organization of the special district are required to submit a service plan to the board of county commissioners of each county that has unincorporated territory included within the boundaries of the proposed special district. If the boundaries of the proposed special district are wholly contained within the boundaries of one or more municipalities, the service plan is submitted to the governing body of the municipality or municipalities. For a proposed metropolitan district that submits a service plan to one or more boards of county commissioners or one or more governing bodies of a municipality on or after January 1, 2024, sections 1 and 2 of the bill require the service plan to include:

• The maximum mill levy that may be imposed for the payment of general obligation indebtedness, as determined by the board of county commissioners of each county that is approving the service plan or the governing body of each municipality that is approving the service plan, as applicable; and
• The maximum debt that may be issued by the metropolitan district, as determined by the board of county commissioners of each county that is approving the service plan or the governing body of each municipality that is approving the service plan, as applicable.

In addition to any other meetings held by the board of directors of a metropolitan district (board), beginning in the 2023 calendar year, section 3 requires the board to hold an annual meeting if the metropolitan district was organized after January 1, 2020 2000 , has residential units within its boundaries, and is not in inactive status. The board is prohibited from taking any official action at the annual meeting and must ensure that the annual meeting includes a presentation from the metropolitan district regarding the status of any of the district's projects public infrastructure projects within the metropolitan district and outstanding bonds, if any, a review of unaudited financial statements showing the year-to-date revenue and expenditures of the metropolitan district in relation to its adopted budget for that calendar year , and an opportunity for members of the public to ask questions about the metropolitan district. In addition, section 3 requires the board to provide a public comment period during the meeting at which the board adopts the annual budget for the metropolitan district.Section 4 specifies that prior to issuing debt to a director of a metropolitan district or to an entity with respect to which a director of a metropolitan district must make a disclosure pursuant to current law, the board is required to receive a statement of a registered municipal advisor certifying specified criteria regarding the interest rate of the debt.

Sellers of real property are currently required to make various disclosures regarding the property. On and after a specified date, section 5 requires the seller of residential real property that is located within a metropolitan district to provide the purchaser of the property with the official website established by the metropolitan district. The seller is required to provide the information on the Colorado real estate commission approved seller's property disclosure.

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)