§ 29-1-204.5 — Establishment of multijurisdictional housing authorities

Colorado § 29-1-204.5

• Jurisdiction: Colorado
• Title 29: Government
• Art.: Budget and Services

Text

(1)
Any combination of home rule or statutory cities, towns, counties, and cities and
counties of this state may, by contract with each other, establish a separate
governmental entity to be known as a multijurisdictional housing authority, referred
to in this section as an authority. Such an authority may be used by such
contracting member governments to effect the planning, financing, acquisition,
construction, reconstruction or repair, maintenance, management, and operation of
housing projects or programs pursuant to a multijurisdictional plan:

(a) To provide dwelling accommodations at rental prices or purchase prices
within the means of families of low or moderate income; and

(b) To provide affordable housing projects or programs for employees of
employers located within the jurisdiction of the authority.

(2) Any contract establishing any such authority shall specify:

(a) The name and purpose of such authority and the functions or services to
be provided by such authority;

(a.5) The boundaries of the authority, which boundaries may include less
than the entire area of the separate governmental entities and may be modified
after the establishment of the authority as provided in the contract;

(b) The establishment and organization of a governing body of the authority,
which shall be a board of directors, referred to in this section as the board, in
which all legislative power of the authority is vested, including:

(I) The number of directors, their manner of appointment, their terms of
office, their compensation, if any, and the procedure for filling vacancies on the
board;

(II) The officers of the authority, the manner of their selection, and their
duties;

(III) The voting requirements for action by the board; except that, unless
specifically provided otherwise, a majority of directors shall constitute a quorum,
and a majority of the quorum shall be necessary for any action taken by the board;

(IV) The duties of the board, which shall include the obligation to comply
with the provisions of parts 1, 5, and 6 of this article;

(c) Provisions for the disposition, division, or distribution of any property or
assets of the authority;

(d) The term of the contract, which may be continued for a definite term or
until rescinded or terminated, and the method, if any, by which it may be rescinded
or terminated; except that such contract may not be rescinded or terminated so
long as the authority has bonds, notes, or other obligations outstanding, unless
provision for full payment of such obligations, by escrow or otherwise, has been
made pursuant to the terms of such obligations;

(e) The expected sources of revenue of the authority and any requirements
that contracting member governments consent to the levying of any taxes or
development impact fees within the jurisdiction of such member. If the authority
levies any taxes or development impact fees, the contract shall further include
requirements that:

(I) Prior to and as a condition of levying any such taxes or fees, the board
shall adopt a resolution determining that the levying of such taxes or fees will fairly
distribute the costs of the authority's activities among the persons and businesses
benefited thereby and will not impose an undue burden on any particular group of
persons or businesses;

(II) Each such tax or fee shall conform with any requirements specified in
subsection (3) of this section; and

(III) The authority shall designate a liaison who shall coordinate with the
department of revenue regarding the collection of a sales and use tax pursuant to
part 2 of article 2 of this title 29. This coordination shall include but not be limited
to the liaison identifying those businesses eligible to collect the sales and use tax
and any other administrative details identified by the department.

(3) The general powers of the authority include the following:

(a) To plan, finance, acquire, construct, reconstruct or repair, maintain,
manage, and operate housing projects and programs pursuant to a
multijurisdictional plan within the means of families of low or moderate income;

(a.5) To plan, finance, acquire, construct, reconstruct or repair, maintain,
manage, and operate affordable housing projects or programs for employees of
employers located within the jurisdiction of the authority;

(b) To make and enter into contracts with any person, including, without
limitation, contracts with state or federal agencies, private enterprises, and
nonprofit organizations also involved in providing such housing projects or
programs or the financing for such housing projects or programs, irrespective of
whether such agencies are parties to the contract establishing the authority;

(c) To employ agents and employees;

(d) To cooperate with state and federal governments in all respects
concerning the financing of such housing projects and programs;

(e) To acquire, hold, lease (as lessor or lessee), sell, or otherwise dispose of
any real or personal property, commodity, or service;

(f) To condemn property for public use, if such property is not owned by any
governmental entity or any public utility and devoted to public use pursuant to
state authority;

(f.1) (I) Subject to the provisions of subsection (7.5) of this section, to levy, in
all of the area within the boundaries of the authority, a sales or use tax, or both, at a
rate not to exceed one percent, upon every transaction or other incident with
respect to which a sales or use tax is levied by the state, excluding the sale or use
of cigarettes. The tax imposed pursuant to this subsection (3)(f.1) is in addition to
any other sales or use tax imposed pursuant to law. The executive director of the
department of revenue shall collect, administer, and enforce the sales or use tax, as
specified in part 2 of article 2 of this title 29.

(II) The authority shall apply the monthly tax collection distributions received
from the department of revenue under section 29-2-207 solely to the planning,
financing, acquisition, construction, reconstruction or repair, maintenance,
management, and operation of housing projects or programs within the means of
families of low or moderate income.

(III) The department of revenue shall retain an amount not to exceed the cost
of the collection, administration, and enforcement and shall transmit the amount
retained to the state treasurer, who shall credit the same amount to the
multijurisdictional housing authority sales tax fund, which fund is hereby created in
the state treasury. The amounts so retained are hereby appropriated annually from
the fund to the department to the extent necessary for the department's collection,
administration, and enforcement of the provisions of this section. Any money
remaining in the fund attributable to taxes collected in the prior fiscal year shall be
transmitted to the authority; except that, prior to the transmission to the authority
of such money, any money appropriated from the general fund to the department
for the collection, administration, and enforcement of the tax for the prior fiscal
year shall be repaid.

(f.2) Subject to the provisions of subsection (7.5) of this section, to levy, in all
of the area within the boundaries of the authority, an ad valorem tax at a rate not to
exceed five mills on each dollar of valuation for assessment of the taxable property
within such area. The tax imposed pursuant to this paragraph (f.2) shall be in
addition to any other ad valorem tax imposed pursuant to law. In accordance with
the schedule prescribed by section 39-5-128, C.R.S., the board shall certify to the
board of county commissioners of each county within the authority, or having a
portion of its territory within the district, the levy of ad valorem property taxes in
order that, at the time and in the manner required by law for the levying of taxes,
such board of county commissioners shall levy such tax upon the valuation for
assessment of all taxable property within the designated portion of the area within
the boundaries of the authority. It is the duty of the body having authority to levy
taxes within each county to levy the taxes provided by this subsection (3). It is the
duty of all officials charged with the duty of collecting taxes to collect such taxes
at the time and in the form and manner and with like interest and penalties as other
taxes are collected and when collected to pay the same to the authority ordering
the levy and collection. The payment of such collections shall be made monthly to
the authority or paid into the depository thereof to the credit of the authority. All
taxes levied under this paragraph (f.2), together with interest thereon and penalties
for default in payment thereof, and all costs of collecting the same shall constitute,
until paid, a perpetual lien on and against the property taxed, and such lien shall be
on a parity with the tax lien of other general taxes.

(f.5) (I) To establish, and from time to time increase or decrease, a
development impact fee and collect such fee from persons who own property
located within the boundaries of the authority who apply for approval for new
residential, commercial, or industrial construction in accordance with applicable
ordinances, resolutions, or regulations of any county or municipality.

(II) Notwithstanding the provisions of subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (f.5),
an impact fee may only be imposed by an authority if all of the following conditions
have been satisfied:

(A) No portion of the authority is located in a county with a population of
more than one hundred thousand;

(B) The fee is not levied upon the development, construction, permitting, or
otherwise in connection with low or moderate income housing or affordable
employee housing;

(C) The rate of the fee is two dollars per square foot or less; and

(D) The authority also imposes a sales and use tax pursuant to paragraph (f.1)
of this subsection (3), an ad valorem tax pursuant to paragraph (f.2) of this
subsection (3), or both.

(g) To incur debts, liabilities, or obligations;

(h) To sue and be sued in its own name;

(i) To have and use a corporate seal;

(j) To fix, maintain, and revise fees, rents, security deposits, and charges for
functions, services, or facilities provided by the authority;

(k) To adopt, by resolution, regulations respecting the exercise of its powers
and the carrying out of its purposes;

(l) To exercise any other powers that are essential to the provision of
functions, services, or facilities by the authority and that are specified in the
contract;

(m) To do and perform any acts and things authorized by this section under,
through, or by means of an agent or by contracts with any person, firm, or
corporation;

(n) To establish enterprises for the ownership, planning, financing,
acquisition, construction, reconstruction or repair, maintenance, management, or
operation, or any combination of the foregoing, of housing projects or programs
authorized by this section on the same terms as and subject to the same conditions
provided in section 43-4-605, C.R.S.

(4) The authority established by such contracting member governments
shall be a political subdivision and a public corporation of the state, separate from
the parties to the contract, and shall be a validly created and existing political
subdivision and public corporation of the state, irrespective of whether a
contracting member government withdraws (whether voluntarily, by operation of
law, or otherwise) from such authority subsequent to its creation under
circumstances not resulting in the rescission or termination of the contract
establishing such authority pursuant to its terms. It shall have the duties, privileges,
immunities, rights, liabilities, and disabilities of a public body politic and corporate.
The authority may deposit and invest its moneys in the manner provided in section
43-4-616, C.R.S.

(5) The bonds, notes, and other obligations of such authority shall not be the
debts, liabilities, or obligations of the contracting member governments.

(6) The contracting member governments may provide in the contract for
payment to the authority of funds from proprietary revenues for services rendered
or facilities provided by the authority, from proprietary revenues or other public
funds as contributions to defray the cost of any purpose set forth in the contract,
and from proprietary revenues or other public funds as advances for any purpose
subject to repayment by the authority.

(7) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2001, p. 966, � 1, effective August 8, 2001.)

(7.1) The authority may issue revenue or general obligation bonds, as the
term bond is defined in section 43-4-602 (3), C.R.S., and may pledge its revenues
and revenue-raising powers for the payment of such bonds. Such bonds shall be
issued on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in section 43-4-609,
C.R.S.

(7.3) The income or other revenues of the authority, all properties at any time
owned by an authority, any bonds issued by an authority, and the transfer of and the
income from any bonds issued by the authority are exempt from all taxation and
assessments in the state.

(7.5) (a) No action by an authority to establish or increase any tax or
development impact fee authorized by this section shall take effect unless first
submitted to a vote of the registered electors of the authority in which the tax or
development impact fee is proposed to be collected.

(b) No action by an authority creating a multiple-fiscal year debt or other
financial obligation that is subject to section 20 (4)(b) of article X of the state
constitution shall take effect unless first submitted to a vote of the registered
electors residing within the boundaries of the authority; except that no such vote is
required for obligations of enterprises established under paragraph (n) of
subsection (3) of this section or for obligations of any other enterprise under
section 20 (4) of article X of the state constitution.

(c) The questions proposed to the registered electors under paragraphs (a)
and (b) of this subsection (7.5) shall be submitted at a general election or any
election to be held on the first Tuesday in November of an odd-numbered year. The
action shall not take effect unless a majority of the registered electors voting
thereon at the election vote in favor thereof. The election shall be conducted in
substantially the same manner as county elections and the county clerk and
recorder of each county in which the election is conducted shall assist the authority
in conducting the election. The authority shall pay the costs incurred by each
county in conducting such an election. No moneys of the authority may be used to
urge or oppose passage of an election required under this section.

(7.7) (a) For the purpose of determining any authority's fiscal year spending
limit under section 20 (7)(b) of article X of the state constitution, the initial spending
base of the authority shall be the amount of revenues collected by the authority
from sources not excluded from fiscal year spending pursuant to section 20 (2)(e)
of article X of the state constitution during the first full fiscal year for which the
authority collected revenues.

(b) For purposes of this subsection (7.7), fiscal year means any year-long
period used by an authority for fiscal accounting purposes.

(8) An authority established by contracting member governments shall, if
the contract so provides, be the successor to any nonprofit corporation, agency, or
other entity theretofore organized by the contracting member governments to
provide the same function, service, or facility, and such authority shall be entitled to
all the rights and privileges and shall assume all the obligations and liabilities of
such other entity under existing contracts to which such other entity is a party.

(9) The authority granted pursuant to this section shall in no manner limit the
powers of governments to enter into intergovernmental cooperation or contracts or
to establish separate legal entities pursuant to the provisions of section 29-1-203 or
any other applicable law or otherwise to carry out their individual powers under
applicable statutory or charter provisions, nor shall such authority limit the powers
reserved to cities and towns by section 2 of article XI of the state constitution.
Nothing in this part 2 constitutes a legislative declaration of preference for housing
projects owned by authorities over housing projects owned by other or different
entities.

(10) An authority and the property of an authority is exempt from all taxes
and special assessments on the same basis and subject to the same conditions as
provided for city housing authorities in sections 29-4-226 and 29-4-227. Like a city
housing authority, an authority may voluntarily apply to include eligible real
property, as defined in section 32-20-103 (4), in which it has an interest as
described in section 29-4-226 (2) into the boundaries of the Colorado new energy
improvement district created in section 32-20-104 (1) and accept the levying by the
district of a special assessment, as defined in section 32-20-103 (14), against the
eligible real property.

Legislative History

Source: L. 77: Entire section added, p. 1393, � 1, effective July 7. L. 2001: Entire section amended, p. 966, � 1, effective August 8. L. 2002: (10) added, p. 1937, � 1, effective June 7. L. 2008: (3)(f.1)(I) amended, p. 990, � 3, effective August 5. L. 2009: (3)(f.1)(I) amended, (HB 09-1342), ch. 354, p. 1846, � 2, effective July 1. L. 2019: (10) amended, (HB 19-1272), ch. 358, p. 3288, � 1, effective August 2. L. 2024: (2)(e)(III), IP(3), and (3)(f.1) amended, (SB 24-025), ch. 144, p. 553, � 3, effective July 1, 2025.