On September 29, 2011, the Colorado Court of Appeals announced its decision in Eastern Adams County Metropolitan District v. Strasburg Sanitation and Water District, Court of Appeals No. 10CA2310. Ron Fano and Jamie Cotter represented the Plaintiff, the Metropolitan District. Ms. Cotter successfully argued that special districts have the legislative right to set and change rates charged for extra-territorial water and wastewater services.
The case is significant in that it affirmed the legislative right of a special district to set rates. It also affirmed that this right cannot be abrogated by contract, including a contract with another special district to provide services to property within that district’s boundaries. The Colorado Court of Appeals accepted Eastern Adams’ argument, that to the extent past cases have held rate setting may be a proprietary as opposed to legislative function, and thus governed by contract, those conclusions were overruled by the Colorado Supreme Court in Bennett Bear Creek Farm Water & Sanitation District v. City & County of Denver, 928 P.2d 1254 (Colo. 1996).
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