(COLORADO SPRINGS) — A lawsuit has been filed in El Paso County District Court against the City of Colorado Springs and Mayor Yemi Mobolade over alleged TABOR and constitutional violations.
The lawsuit by Preserve Pine Creek Village, LLC, alleges that the City violated multiple provisions of the Colorado Constitution, including the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), which requires voter approval before creating multi-year government debt. The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of a $40 million Private Activity Bond (PAB) issuance approved by the City Council on May 27. Tim Lewan, who lives in the Pine Creek Village area, says he donated to the legal fund because he’s been against the development of these apartments from the start.
“We have been trying to voice these concerns for quite some time to the city government, and it’s definitely fallen on deaf ears, “Lewan said.
The resolution declared that the City could issue revenue bonds in connection with financing residential facilities for low and middle-income families. The resolution passed in May on an 8-1 vote. The only council member who voted against the ordinance was Dave Donelson.
The complaint says the bond issuance allegedly constitutes a multi-year district debt that needs advance voter approval, which the city allegedly did not submit as a ballot question. The lawsuit alleges that the City also passed the ordinance for the benefit of a private developer, DGB Properties LLC. Lewan believes if this had been brought to voters, there would have been a similar outcome like the recent vote on the Karman Line Annexation.
“If we could have brought it to a vote, we would have had the same outcome,” Lewan said.
“The City has bent over backward to subsidize a private developer’s for-profit project – without voter approval – in a manner that is the very antithesis of TABOR and the citizen protections enshrined in the Colorado Constitution,” the complaint states.
The lawsuit further alleges the City also violated Article XI and due process. The lawsuit states that this risks the City’s bond rating and saddles taxpayers with indirect liabilities, directly undermining the fiscal restraints TABOR secures. Due to that, the plaintiff seeks a public accounting of financial arrangements, developer commitments, and all public obligations tied to the bond deal.
FOX21 News reached out to the City of Colorado Springs, the City Council, and Mayor Mobolade. All responded that they do not comment on pending litigation.
