Wolfersberger, LLC provides comprehensive accounting, management and consulting services to metropolitan districts across Colorado. Our firm is unique because we only provide services to resident-controlled metropolitan districts. We avoid serving builder and land developer-controlled metropolitan districts and we do not maintain financial relationships with or provide services to home builders or land developers.
Metro districts managed by Wolfersberger, LLC promote high standards regarding ethical conduct among directors and contractors, transparency with residents and fiscal management of property taxes collected from homeowners.
We assist all of our metro district clients with achieving a "flat tax" financial structure where, regardless of annual changes in home values, homeowners pay the same amount in property taxes to fund their metro district each year.
Read local news articles regarding investigations into abuses that are occurring on developer / builder-controlled metropolitan districts
Don't be fooled into believing metropolitan districts are a highly regulated form of government. Many land developers, home builders and professional firms are spending significant sums of money on advertising, social media and "educational" websites attempting to mislead Colorado homeowners into believing that metropolitan districts are heavily regulated. This is simply not true.
Find out how some metropolitan districts are authorized to issue billions of dollars of debt without obtaining a single vote from any of the homeowners or residents who live in such metropolitan districts.
Lean more about how developers and builders try to keep homeowners from participating in the governance of their property tax districts by creating Master/Slave district structures.
Learn more about neighborhoods where homeowners agreed to consolidate their HOA services into their homeowner-controlled metropolitan district
Are you interested in starting a recall election regarding your builder or developer-controlled metropolitan district board? Read more about recent recall elections that occurred in other metropolitan districts.
Review Colorado Revised Statutes (CRS) first-hand. Key statutes applicable to metro districts include the following:
The Office of the State Auditor (OSA) is a nonpartisan agency in Colorado's Legislative Branch. The State Auditor is appointed by the Colorado General Assembly (i.e. the Colorado House of Representatives and the Colorado Senate) to a 5-year term. OSA is responsible for ensuring metropolitan districts comply with local government audit laws (CRS 29-1-601). Metro districts must file their annual financial statements with OSA by June 30th each year.
NOTE: Click HERE to access OSA's database of annual audited financial statements filed by metro districts.
In 2006, Colorado voters passed Amendment 41 which added Article XXIX “Ethics in Government” to the State of Colorado’s constitution and created the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission (CIEC). The CIEC was created to “…ensure propriety and to preserve public confidence…” in the conduct of state and local government officials.
NOTE: Unfortunately, metropolitan districts are outside the jurisdiction of the CIEC. The State Legislature has been unwilling to pass laws requiring the CIEC to regulate the ethical behavior of directors serving on metro districts.
Read the Colorado Court of Appeals ruling regarding the lawsuit filed by the Landmark Towers Association, Inc (on behalf of the homeowners) against the developer-controlled Marin Metropolitan District.
The Special District Association (SDA) of Colorado is a statewide membership organization created in 1975 to serve the interests of the special district form of local government in Colorado. SDA has over 2,600 special district members (approximately 50% of which are controlled by directors reporting conflicts of interest) and over 300 associate members. SDA associate members include attorneys, accountants, investment advisors, engineers, management companies and other consultants. The SDA Executive Director, the Legislative Committee and a hired contract lobbyist monitor legislation, and lobby extensively on behalf of all special districts before the Colorado General Assembly.
The Division of Local Government (DLG) operates under Colorado State's Department of Local Affairs - one of 22 state agencies. The executive director for the Department of Local Affairs is appointed by the governor. The DLG provides training, technical assistance and manages the Local Government Information System (LGIS) database. However, DLG neither regulates the activities of metropolitan districts nor has enforcement powers to stop metropolitan districts from violating any laws (other than laws requiring public disclosures and reports be filed with DLG).
NOTE: Click HERE to access the LGIS database which contains annual budgets, transparency notices, financial statements, election results, annual reports and other information filed by all local government entities - including metropolitan districts.
Review various information in public bond offering documents filed by your metropolitan district on the Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA) database. Financial projections, development plans and projections, financial and operational risks, planned uses of bond proceeds, etc are a few topics addressed in these documents.
Sometimes residents of metro districts may not want to wait until a biennial election occurs (i.e. May of 2022 and then May of odd-numbered years thereafter) to remove directors from a metro district board - especially when such directors who disclose significant conflicts of interest serving on the board are unwilling to step down and be replaced by independent directors. Click here to learn more on how to initiate a recall election in your metro district.
Find out whether the directors serving on your metropolitan district board are filing conflicts of interest disclosures with the Colorado Secretary of State.
NOTE: The Colorado Secretary of State does not review or regulate what is (or is not) disclosed in conflict-of-interest disclosure filings.