Background on Metro Districts
Background on Metro Districts
- Metropolitan districts are a type of Colorado special district that provides at least two types of services - fire, mosquito, parks and recreation, safety protection, sanitation, solid waste disposal, street improvement, television relay, transportation, water - and are created in accordance with the Special District Act (Title 32, Article 1, C.R.S.).
- Metro districts are independent governmental entities formed to finance, design, acquire, install, construct, operate and/or maintain public improvements that are not otherwise being provided.
- Existing regulations for metro districts include many protections for homebuyers and consumers:
- Multiple disclosures provided at each step of the homebuying process
- Mill‐levy caps
- Maximum terms for debt service mill levy
- Putting development risk on bond holders instead of homeowners as a result of the mill‐levy cap and limited term for debt service mill levy
- Reducing costs for homebuyers since other methods of financing the same infrastructure are more expensive, particularly in large master‐planned communities
- Allowing for development tpay its way as the cost of new infrastructure is funded by the property owners whbenefit rather than the public at large
- Metro district financing for public improvements is the best available option to support public improvements in the new housing community developments needed to meet the affordable housing challenge in Colorado.
-
- If these public infrastructure costs were included in the price of each home, many residents would be priced out of the market.
- Instead, metro districts spread these costs out over time, and the residents of the metro district repay them through long‐term property tax payments.