Bruce gets signatures to put anti-Stormwater plan on ballot

   Douglas Bruce submitted petitions Tuesday with thousands more signatures than the 11,470 needed to qualify proposals that would dismantle Colorado Springs' Stormwater Enterprise and overhaul how the city's other enterprises operate for the November ballot.

   Bruce, a state representative and author of state and local tax and spending limitations, said he got 17,400 signatures for the first measure and 16,900 for the second.

   The first proposal would require all city enterprises to bill and collect charges on a voluntary basis, excluding Memorial Health System.

   The second would phase out payments to the city from its enterprises in 10 years, with the savings passed on to customers.

   The measure would also ban loans, gifts and subsidies between the enterprises and the city, excluding sales and use taxes.

   City officials have said in the past the measures could devastate the city budget - Colorado Springs Utilities makes a payment in lieu of taxes to the city that totals roughly $26 million a year. In wiping out the stormwater fee, city officials have said, voters would leave the city with no way to pay for a $300-million backlog of drainage projects.

   Wearing a T-shirt bearing a stop sign and saying, "Stop the rain tax," Bruce held a news conference at the City Clerk's Office to announce that voters are "white hot" about the stormwater tax. He said he paid about $4,000 to petition circulators, far less than would have been needed if volunteers hadn't also helped.

   "Ordinary citizens got out and once they saw the anger, they waived being paid," he said.

   He said voters want to vote on tax increases. He believes the stormwater fee, initiated in 2007, is a tax, because it's mandatory based on a property's impervious surfaces and because the city plans to place tax liens on properties for nonpayment.

   The city collects about $15 million annually from the fee.

   The proposals would apply to the city's 11 enterprises: Colorado Springs Airport, Memorial, Springs Utilities, cemeteries, Development Review Enterprise, Human Services Complex, parking system, Patty Jewett and Valley Hi golf courses, Pikes Peak Highway and the Stormwater Enterprise.

   The clerk has until July 17 to determine if an adequate number of valid signatures was collected to place the questions on the ballot.

   Submitting the petitions was a milestone in a process Bruce launched more than a year ago, navigating the city's Title Board and District Court to get clearance to seek signatures. 

   CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0238 or pam.zubeck@gazette.com