Thirty-two years ago, Boulder County made a decision that almost certainly seemed right at the time -- it would neither tax for nor provide "urban services" to residents of rural housing subdivisions.

This probably made much sense to commissioners and planners of that era.  In 1978, areas outside the cities were much more agricultural in nature.

Had you driven from Denver to Boulder in that year, you would have been treated to views of rolling farm fields in front of the Flatirons and other foothill peaks. No Costco store, no Red Lobster restaurant, no Chicago Pizza, no Odeum blemished the landscape.

One can imagine the county's thinking. Commissioners and planners alike probably wanted to keep this rural character intact.  If people were going to build on farmland, they would have to sink their own water wells, fund their own fire departments, pay for their own trash collection and either take care of their own roads or, more likely, have their homeowners' associations do it.

And, rural residents have managed the first three tasks quite well. 

Unfortunately, taking care of subdivision roads has been another matter.  Even though the county has helped with some patching and pothole filling, roads have continued to deteriorate.

The situation now has become so bad that Boulder County Transportation Director George Gerstle (in the photo above) estimates it will take more than $20 million to put the county's rural subdivision roads back into good shape.

That's a lot of money for the county, which is now struggling with funding solutions for this increasingly serious problem.  One possible solution could cost subdivision residents on average more than $400 a year in additional property tax assessments for at least five years.

But subdivision residents attending a recent public meeting at the Boulder County Courthouse, seemed almost uniformly opposed to the tax assessments, though most appeared to favor improving roads in their subdivisions.

Gerstle said the county remains open to additional input. "The county has made no decision to do anything," he emphasized.

"I'm hearing from a lot of people that they think this is unfair," he added later in the meeting.

With the recession still very much on people's minds, the idea of paying additional assessments has clearly raised a red flag for many rural homeowners.

Some criticized the process through which Gerstle's department studied the problem.

They suggested that a citizens' working group did not properly represent all residents since membership came mostly from active homeowners' associations. As a result, many developments were unrepresented because their HOAs were inactive, non-existant or not known to the county.

But participants seemed unable to come up with better solutions.

One woman favored placing a county-wide tax issue on the ballot. She suggested  voters in unaffected areas could be convinced to support a levy if improvements to other county roads were included in the package.

Another homeowner agreed, noting that rural residents help support Boulder City government by paying sales taxes at stores in the city.  He said it seemed fair that city residents should return the favor.

Gerstle, who was clearly at the meeting to listen, did not contradict the homeowners.  However, in going over various funding options earlier in the meeting, he noted that voter support from unaffected areas seemed unlikely.

The issue will be discussed again at a meeting of the Boulder County Commissioners at 3 p.m. Thursday, March 4. There has been no indication that any final decision will occur at the meeting. Residents can attend, but there will be no opportunity for public input.


(Ron Rovtar is a broker associate at Prudential Real Estate of the Rockies in Boulder.  He can be reached at 303.473.1926)

This Article © Ron Rovtar/All Rights Reserved

Tags: Boulder County, roads, subdivisions, rural, development, homeowners, tax assessments.