(1) In
addition to the powers specified in section 32-1-1001, the board of any metropolitan
district has the following powers for and on behalf of such district:
(a) To enter into contracts with public utilities, cooperative electric
associations, and municipalities for the purpose of furnishing street lighting service;
(b) To erect and maintain, in providing safety protection services, traffic and
safety controls and devices on streets and highways and at railroad crossings and
to enter into agreements with the county or counties in which a metropolitan
district is situate or with adjoining counties, the department of transportation, or
railroad companies for the erection of such safety controls and devices and for the
construction of underpasses or overpasses at railroad crossings;
(c) To finance line extension charges for new telephone construction for the
purpose of furnishing telephone service exclusively in districts which have no
property zoned or valued for assessment as residential;
(d) To finance payment of incremental directional drilling costs for oil and
gas wells drilled within the greater Wattenberg area, as that term is defined in
section 24-65.5-102, C.R.S;
(e) A metropolitan district that provides fire protection services may
establish, in its discretion, a program to require the removal of vegetative fuel from
privately owned real property within the boundaries of the district, as specified in
section 32-1-1001 (1)(i) for fire protection districts, and a metropolitan district that
provides fire protection services and that establishes a program pursuant to section
32-1-1001 (1)(i) shall adopt policies consistent with the 2024 International Wildland-urban Interface Code, a subsequent code established by the International Code
Council, or the standards and codes adopted or issued by the Colorado wildfire
resiliency code board. A metropolitan district providing fire protection services
shall coordinate with all applicable local entities as defined in section 37-99-102 (9)
when developing a vegetative fuel mitigation program and shall comply with the
requirements of section 37-99-103.
(2) A metropolitan district shall provide two or more of the following
services:
(a) Fire protection as specified in section 32-1-103 (7);
(b) Elimination and control of mosquitoes;
(c) Parks or recreational facilities or programs as specified in section 32-1-103 (14);
(d) Safety protection through traffic and safety controls and devices on
streets and highways and at railroad crossings;
(e) Sanitation services as specified in section 32-1-103 (18);
(f) Street improvement through the construction and installation of curbs,
gutters, culverts, and other drainage facilities and sidewalks, bridges, parking
facilities, paving, lighting, grading, landscaping, and other street improvements;
(g) Establishment and maintenance of television relay and translator
facilities;
(h) Transportation as specified in subsection (5) of this section;
(i) Water and sanitation services as specified in section 32-1-103 (18), (24),
and (25);
(j) Water as specified in section 32-1-103 (25);
(k) Solid waste disposal facilities or collection and transportation of solid
waste as specified in section 32-1-1006 (6) and (7).
(3) Any metropolitan district providing services specified in paragraph (a), (c),
(e), (i), or (j) of subsection (2) of this section shall have all the duties, powers, and
authority granted to a fire protection, park and recreation, sanitation, water and
sanitation, or water district by this article, except as provided in subsection (4) of
this section.
(4) A metropolitan district may have and exercise the power of eminent
domain and dominant eminent domain and, in the manner provided by article 1 of
title 38, may take any property necessary to the exercise of the powers granted,
both within and without the special district, only for the purposes of fire protection,
sanitation, street improvements, television relay and translator facilities, water, or
water and sanitation, except for the acquisition of water rights, and, within the
boundaries of the district, if the district is providing park and recreation services,
only for the purpose of easements and rights-of-way for access to park and
recreational facilities operated by the special district and only where no other
access to such facilities exists or can be acquired by other means. A metropolitan
district shall not exercise its power of dominant eminent domain within a
municipality or the unincorporated area of a county, other than within the
boundaries of the jurisdiction that approved its service plan, without a written
resolution approving the exercise of dominant eminent domain by the governing
body of the municipality in connection with property that is located within an
incorporated area or by the board of county commissioners of the county in
connection with property that is located within an unincorporated area.
(5) The board of a metropolitan district has the power to establish, maintain,
and operate a system to transport the public by bus, rail, or any other means of
conveyance, or any combination thereof, and may contract pursuant to part 2 of
article 1 of title 29. The board of a metropolitan district may not establish, maintain,
or operate such a system of transportation in a county, city, city and county, or any
other political subdivision of the state empowered to provide a system of
transportation except pursuant to a contract entered into pursuant to part 2 of
article 1 of title 29. The board of a metropolitan district not originally organized as
having the power granted in this subsection (5) may exercise its power upon
compliance with part 2 of this article 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of this
subsection (5), the board of a metropolitan district shall not exercise the power
under this subsection (5) until approved by the district court in compliance with part
2 of this article 1 and unless authorized, at a regular special district election or a
special election held and conducted pursuant to article 13.5 of title 1, by a majority
of the eligible electors of the district voting on the question of whether the board
should exercise such power. The board of a metropolitan district which exercises
the power granted in this subsection (5) shall provide transportation services only in
the county or counties within which the boundaries of the metropolitan district lie.
(6) Notwithstanding anything in this article or any other law to the contrary:
(a) A metropolitan district may be formed within any part of the area within
the regional transportation district, as described in section 32-9-106.1, for the
single service of financing a system to transport the public by bus, guideway, or any
other means of conveyance, or any combination thereof.
(b) A district created pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection (6) may be
formed wholly or partly within an existing special district which provides or is
authorized to provide the service of mass transportation if the improvements or
facilities to be financed by such a district do not duplicate or interfere with any
other improvements or facilities already constructed or planned to be constructed
within the limits of the existing special district.
(c) The intergovernmental contract required by subsection (5) of this section
shall not be required for such a district except where the county, city, or city and
county or any other political subdivision of the state within which a system of
transportation is to be financed is actually operating a system of transportation.
(d) Except as specifically modified by this subsection (6), all other provisions
of this article shall apply to such a district.
(e) In accordance with section 32-1-307 (1), no tract of land of forty acres or
more used primarily and zoned for agricultural uses shall be included in any
metropolitan district providing parks or recreational facilities and programs that is
organized under this article 1 without the written consent of the owners.
(7) The board of a metropolitan district has the power to furnish security
services for any area within the special district. Such power may be exercised only
after the district has provided written notification to, consulted with, and obtained
the written consent of all local law enforcement agencies having jurisdiction within
the area and any applicable master association or similar body having authority in
its charter or declaration to furnish security services in the area. Any local law
enforcement agency having jurisdiction within the area and any applicable master
association or similar body having authority in its charter or declaration to furnish
security services in the area may subsequently withdraw its consent after
consultation with and providing written notice of the withdrawal to the board.
(8) (a) The board of a metropolitan district has the power to furnish covenant
enforcement and design review services within the district if:
(I) The governing body of the applicable master association or similar body
and the metropolitan district have entered into a contract to define the duties and
responsibilities of each of the contracting parties, including the covenants that may
be enforced by the district, and the covenant enforcement services of the district
do not exceed the enforcement powers granted by the declaration, rules and
regulations, or any similar document containing the covenants to be enforced; or
(II) The declaration, rules and regulations, or any similar document
containing the covenants to be enforced for the area within the metropolitan
district name the metropolitan district as the enforcement or design review entity.
(b) The board of a metropolitan district shall have the power to furnish
covenant enforcement and design review services pursuant to this subsection (8)
only if the revenues used to furnish such services are derived from the area in which
the service is furnished.
(c) Nothing in this subsection (8) shall be construed to authorize a
metropolitan district to enforce any covenant that has been determined to be
unenforceable as a matter of law.
(d) In furnishing covenant enforcement and design review services pursuant
to this subsection (8), the board of a metropolitan district shall comply with the
procedural requirements set forth in section 32-1-1004.5.
(9) Except as limited by the service plan of the district, the board of a
metropolitan district has the power to provide activities in support of business
recruitment, management, and development within the district. A metropolitan
district meeting the qualifications of this subsection (9) shall neither have nor
exercise the power of eminent domain or dominant eminent domain for the
purposes set forth in this subsection (9).
(10) (a) In addition to the excise tax imposed pursuant to article 28.8 of title
39, a metropolitan district with boundaries entirely within the unincorporated area
of a county is authorized to levy, collect, and enforce a metropolitan district excise
tax on the first sale or transfer of unprocessed retail marijuana by a retail marijuana
cultivation facility. Such excise tax must be calculated based on the average
market rate of the unprocessed retail marijuana. The tax shall be imposed at the
time when the retail marijuana cultivation facility first sells or transfers
unprocessed retail marijuana from the retail marijuana cultivation facility to a retail
marijuana product manufacturing facility, a retail marijuana store, or another retail
marijuana cultivation facility.
(b) If the boundaries of a metropolitan district are within a county that
imposes an additional excise tax on the first sale or transfer of unprocessed retail
marijuana by a retail marijuana cultivation facility pursuant to section 29-2-114, the
excise tax rate imposed by the metropolitan district pursuant to this subsection (10)
shall not exceed such tax rate imposed by the county. In no event shall the tax rate
imposed pursuant to this subsection (10) exceed five percent of the average market
rate, as determined by the department of revenue pursuant to section 39-28.8-101
(1), of the unprocessed retail marijuana.
(c) No excise tax shall be levied pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (a)
of this subsection (10) until the proposal has been referred to and approved by the
eligible electors of the metropolitan district. Any proposal for the levy of an excise
tax in accordance with paragraph (a) of this subsection (10) may be submitted to the
eligible electors of the district at a regular special district election, on the date of
the state general election, or on the first Tuesday in November of an odd-numbered
year, and any election on the proposal must be conducted in accordance with the
Uniform Election Code of 1992, articles 1 to 13 of title 1, C.R.S.
(d) Any retail marijuana excise tax imposed by a metropolitan district
pursuant to this subsection (10) shall not be collected, administered, or enforced by
the department of revenue, but shall instead be collected, administered, and
enforced by the metropolitan district imposing the tax or through an
intergovernmental agreement with the county in which the metropolitan district is
located.
(11) A metropolitan district created on or after July 1, 2021, shall annually pay
the state an amount equal to the total of all ad valorem credits claimed under
section 39-29-105 (2)(b) for property taxes that are imposed by the metropolitan
district. The state treasurer shall credit fifty percent of the payment to the state
severance tax trust fund created by section 39-29-109, and fifty percent to the
local government severance tax fund created by section 39-29-110, with these
amounts further allocated in the same manner as the gross receipts realized from
the severance taxes imposed on minerals and mineral fuels under the provisions of
article 27 of title 39.