ORDINANCE NO. 2007

AN ORDINANCE APPROVING THE ASSESSABLE COST OF THE IMPROVEMENTS MADE IN AND FOR IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT NO. ST-80, PHASE B, IN THE CITY OF GRAND JUNCTION, COLORADO, PURSUANT TO ORDINANCE NO. 178, ADOPTED AND APPROVED THE 11TH DAY OF JUNE, 1910, AS AMENDED; APPROVING THE APPORTIONMENT OF SAID COST TO EACH LOT OR TRACT OF LAND OR OTHER REAL ESTATE IN SAID DISTRICT; APPROVING THE APPORTIONMENT OR SAID COST AND PRESCRIBING THE MANNER FOR THE COLLECTION AND PAYMENT OF SAID ASSESSMENTS.

WHEREAS, the City Council and Municipal Officers of the City of Grand Junction, in the State of Colorado, have complied with all the provisions of law relating to certain improvements in Improvement District No. ST-80, Phase B, in the City of Grand Junction, pursuant to Ordinance No. 178 of said City, adopted and approved June 11, 1910, as amended, being Chapter 18 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Grand Junction, Colorado, and pursuant to the various resolutions, orders and proceedings taken under said Ordinance; and

WHEREAS, The City Council has heretofore caused to be published the Notice of Completion of said local improvement in said Improvement District No. ST-80 Phase B, and the apportionment of the cost thereof to all person interested and to the owners of real estate which is described therein, said real estate comprising the district of land known as Improvement District No. ST-80, Phase B, in the City of Grand Junction, Colorado, which said Notice was caused to be published in the Daily Sentinel, the official newspaper of the City of Grand Junction (the first publication thereof appearing on June 19, 1981, and the last publication thereof appearing on June 21, 1981); and

WHEREAS, said Notice recited the share to be apportioned to and upon each lot or tract of land within said District assessable for said improvements, and recited that complaints or objections might be made in writing to the Council and filed with the Clerk within thirty (30) days from the first publication of said Notice, to wit: On or before and up to 5:00 o'clock P.M. on the 20th day of July, 1981, and recited that such complaints would be heard and determined by the Council at its first regular meeting after the said thirty days and before the passage of any ordinance assessing the cost of said improvements; and

WHEREAS, proper complaint as to proposed assessments was made by the First National Bank-North, owners of Lots 1 to 11, the North 125.00 feet of Lots 12 and 13, all of Lots 14, 15, 16, 17 and 20 in Block 3 of Teller Acres Subdivision; and

WHEREAS, as to these complaints, the City Council determines as follows;

The policy established and practiced by the City in its improvement districts was that owners of residential properties, other than developers, paid one-third of the cost of the improvement, the opposite owner paid one-third, and the City paid one-third. Developers of residential property and owners or developers of business, commercial or industrial properties paid the full cost of the improvement.

This policy was not made clear in the use of the Resolution establishing a part of the policy and the petitions circulated for Phase B of this District did not make the policy clear, but were in fact confusing so as to mislead some who circulated and signed the petition.

While the legal basis may exist for collection of the assessments as they were originally advertised, equitable considerations require that an adjustment be made to conform to what the persons involved in Phase B believed they would be called upon to pay, and adjustment will be made accordingly; and

WHEREAS, the City Council has fully confirmed the statement prepared by the City Engineer and certified by the President of the City Council showing the assessable cost of said improvements and the apportionment thereof heretofore made as contained in that certain Notice to property owners in Improvement District No. ST-80, Phase B, duly published in the Daily Sentinel, the official newspaper of the City, and has duly ordered that the cost of said improvements in said Improvement District No. ST-80, Phase B, be assessed and apportioned against all of the real estate in said District in the portions contained in the aforesaid Notice, except as above set out; and

WHEREAS, from the statement made and filed with the City Clerk by the City Engineer, it appears that the assessable cost of the said improvements is $343,676.55, less the adjustments of that cost made above, said amount including six per centum additional for cost of collection and other incidentals and including interest to the 10th day of November, 1981, at the average rate of 9.2205% per annum on the bonds heretofore sold to raise funds for the construction of said improvements; and

WHEREAS, from said statement and the adjustments made to it, it appears that there should be apportioned a share of the assessable cost to each lot or tract of land in said District in the following portions and amounts, severally, to wit:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF GRAND JUNCTION:

Section 1. That the assessable cost and apportionment of same, as hereinbefore set forth, is hereby assessed against all the real estate in said District, and to and upon each lot or tract of land within said District, and against such persons and in the portions and amounts which are severally hereinbefore set forth and described.

Section 2. That said assessments, together with all interests and penalties for default in payment thereof, and all cost of collecting same, shall from the time of final publication of this Ordinance, constitute a perpetual lien against each lot of land herein described, on a parity with the tax lien for general, State, County, City and school taxes, and no sale of such property to enforce any general, State, County, City or school tax or other lien shall extinguish the perpetual lien of such assessment.

Section 3. That said assessment shall be due and payable within thirty days after the final publication of this Ordinance without demand; provided that all such assessments may at the election of the owner, be paid to installments with interest as hereinafter provided. Failure to pay the whole assessment within the said period of thirty days shall be conclusively considered and held an election on the part of all person interested, whether under disability or otherwise, to pay in such installments. All persons so electing to pay in installments shall be conclusively considered and held as consenting to said improvements, and such election shall be conclusively considered and held as a waiver of any and all rights to question the power and jurisdiction of the City to construct the improvements, the quality of the work, the regularity or sufficiency of the proceedings, or the validity or correctness of the assessment.

Section 4. That in case of such election to pay in installments, the assessments shall be payable in ten equal annual installments of the principal, with interest upon unpaid installments payable annually in accordance with the coupons on the bonds issued to fund the District. The first of said installments of principal shall be due and payable within ninety days after the final publication of this Ordinance and the remainder of said installments shall be due on the first day of January of each year thereafter until all of said installments are paid in full.

Section 5. That the failure to pay any installments, whether of principal or interest, as herein provided, when due, shall cause the whole unpaid principal or interest, as herein provided, when due, shall cause the whole unpaid principal to become due and payable immediately and the whole amount of the unpaid principal and accrued interest shall thereafter draw interest at the rate of ten percent per annum until the day of sale, as by law provided; but at any time prior to the day of sale, the owner may pay the amount of such delinquent installment or installments, with interest at ten percent per annum as aforesaid, and all penalties accrued, and shall thereupon be restored to the right thereafter to pay in installments in the same manner as if default had not been suffered. The owner of any piece of real estate not in default as to any installments, may at any time pay the whole of the unpaid principal, with interest accrued.

Section 6. That payment may be made to the City Finance Director at any time within thirty days after the final publication of this Ordinance, and an allowance of the six percent added for cost of collection and other incidentals shall be made on all payments made during said period of thirty days.

Section 7. That monies remaining in the hands of the City Finance Director as the result of the operation and payments under Improvement District No. ST-80, Phase B, after the retirement of all bonds and proper payment of monies owing by the District shall be retained by the Finance Director and shall be used thereafter for the purpose of further funding of past or subsequent improvement districts which may be or may become in default or for such purposes as the City Council of the City of Grand Junction may from time to time direct.

Section 8. That all provisions of Ordinance No. 178 of the City of Grand Junction, as amended, being Chapter 18 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Grand Junction, Colorado, shall govern and be taken to be a part of this Ordinance with respect to the creation of said Improvement District No. ST-80, Phase B, the construction of the improvements therein, the apportionment and assessment of the cost thereof and the collection of such assessments.

Section 9. That this Ordinance, after its introduction and first reading shall be published once in full in the Daily Sentinel, the official newspaper of the City, at least ten days before its final passage, and after its final passage, it shall be numbered and recorded in the City Ordinance record, and a certificate of such adoption and publication shall be authenticated by the certificate of the publisher and the signature of the President of the Council and the City Clerk and shall be in full force and effect on and after the date of such final publication, except as otherwise provided by the Charter of the City of Grand Junction.

Introduced and read at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Grand Junction, Colorado, held on the 16th day of September, 1981.

PASSED and ADOPTED this 7th day of October, 1981.

Louis R. Brach

____________________

President of the Council

Attest:

Neva B. Lockhart, CMC

____________________

City Clerk

I HEREBY CERTIFY that the forgoing ordinance, being Ordinance No. 2007, was introduced, read, and ordered published by the City Council of the City of Grand Junction, Colorado, at a regular meeting of said body held on the 16th day of September, 1981, and that the same was published in The Daily Sentinel, a newspaper published and in general circulation in said City, at least ten days before its final passage.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the official seal of said city this 8th day of October, 1981.

Neva B. Lockhart

____________________

Neva B. Lockhart, CMC

City Clerk

Published: September 25, 1981

Published: October 9, 1981

Effective: November 8, 1981