Brief by Central Staff
Water Politics – September 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine
The Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District will not be expanding into eastern Frémont County this year.
The district currently comprises Chaffee, Custer, and western Frmont counties, and for the past two years, annexation petitions have circulated in eastern Frémont, which included Cañon City and Florence.
Last year, Judge David Thorson found the petitions inadequate after they were contested at a two-day hearing. Since that settled the issue, he did not rule on whether an election was required for an area to join a conservancy district, as opposed to having a court order the annexation after receiving valid petitions.
This year, the petitioners asked for an election, but withdrew their request before the scheduled Aug. 10 hearing because they did not have enough signatures.
If they had gathered sufficient valid signatures — they were short on the number required from owners of irrigated land — then the annexation question would have been on the November general-election ballot in eastern Frémont.
Since the conservancy district collects a small property tax, and Colorado’s constitution required a public vote on all tax increases, the voters would have to approve inclusion in the conservancy district.
Even if they came up with enough signatures in the near future, it’s now too late to put the question on the November ballot.
What happens next?
It depends on how Thorson rules on several motions before the court. Those opposed to the annexation, represented by Bill Alderton of Salida, want the judge to rule that the petitions signed for the Aug. 10 hearing were inadequate, and that the petitioners have to start over.
Petitioners argue that they should be awarded a continuance, giving them time to collect more signatures before submitting the petitions again. Another question is whether this could be the subject of a special election, perhaps next spring, or if it must be handled at a November election.
