Owners of properties in unincorporated Boulder County’s residential subdivisions can pay the county’s charges for their inclusion into a recently formed Subdivision Paving Local Improvement District in full, or in annual installments, county officials advised on Thursday.
But Boulder County Fairness in Road Maintenance has warned property owners that each will have to pay the full amount — typically several thousand dollars per parcel — by Dec. 23, in order to maintain legal standing for challenging the LID and the road rehabilitation assessments those property owners will be billed for.
In a news release and a message to property owners who are on a Boulder County subdivision paving email list, county officials said state law gives property owners 30 days from the effective date of the county commissioners’ Nov. 21 adoption of the LID assessment resolution — until Dec. 23 — to pay the assessment in full if they want to preserve their legal right to challenge the LID.
Deputy County Attorney David Hughes said, however, that Boulder County believes the eventual outcome of a lawsuit filed against the LID by several property owners last month will likely have an impact on all property owners in the LID, and not just those who filed the lawsuit.
While Boulder County is contesting the lawsuit’s challenges to the legality of the LID, Hughes said that “if the court finds the LID is invalid, it will be invalid for all properties,” and not just the eight whose owners filed suit on Nov. 20.
County officials advised in their news release and email message that any property owners wishing to file a legal challenge to the LID should consult with a private attorney “regarding their rights and responsibilities” in taking such an action.
Meanwhile, any property owners wishing to pay their assessment in full by Dec. 23 can mail a check, preferably with “Subdivision Paving LID” written on the memo line, to: Boulder County Treasurer; Attn: Subdivision Paving LID Payoff; P.O. Box 471, Boulder, CO, 80306.
Chuck Wibby, one of the property owners suing the county over the LID, said earlier this week that he and his seven co-plaintiffs are all paying their full assessment by Dec. 23 in order to preserve their legal standing for questioning and challenging the LID and any actions the county commissioners may take relating to the paving district and its billings.
Owners of residential subdivision properties in unincorporated Boulder County can check the amount they’re being assessed — both the projected full amount for the 15-year life span of the LID, and the annual installment payments they’ll be charged, if they make those payments over 15 years — by consulting a word-searchable tax roll list on bouldercounty.org/subdivisionpaving.
In January, when property owners get their regular annual property tax bills from the Boulder County Treasurer’s Office, owners of properties within the Subdivision Paving LID will get the LID’s first annual charge on that statement. Half of next year’s LID payment, typically amounting to several hundred dollars, will be due Feb. 28, with the other half due on June 16 — or, if a property owner chooses to make a single annual payment, it will be due by April 30.
Boulder County officials said in their Thursday news release and email to subdivision property owners that like all special assessments, Colorado law requires that a lien be placed on the property for the full 15-year amount of the assessment until it is paid off. A property owner can send a check for whatever unpaid balance of the full amount remains, at any time within that 15 years.
County officials said anyone wanting more information about the LID assessments and when they can be paid can call 720-564-2644 or visit bouldercounty.org/subdivisionpaving.
John Fryar can be reached at 303-684-5211 or jfryar@times-call.com.
