David RECHBERGER; Nicollette Munson; Rolf Munson; Laurel Hyde Boni; Dinah McKay; Donald Sherwood; William Swafford, Jr.; Marilyn Kepes; Donald Wrege; and Douglas Johnson, Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
BOULDER COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS and Boulder County Housing Authority, Defendants-Appellees.
Boulder
County District Court No. 17CV30818, Honorable Nancy W.
Salomone, Judge
Chipman
Glasser, LLC, David S. Chipman, John M. Bowlin, Denver,
Colorado, for Plaintiffs-Appellants
Benjamin
Pearlman, County Attorney, David Hughes, Deputy County
Attorney, Catherine Ruhland, Assistant County Attorney,
Boulder, Colorado, for Defendants-Appellees
OPINION
DAILEY,
JUDGE
Page 356
[¶
1] Plaintiffs David Rechberger, Nicollette Munson,
Rolf Munson, Laurel Hyde Boni, Dinah McKay, Donald Sherwood,
William Swafford, Jr., Marilyn Kepes, Donald Wrege, and
Douglas Johnson appeal the district courts order dismissing
their complaint against defendants, the Boulder County Board
of County Commissioners (the County) and the Boulder County
Housing Authority (BCHA), for lack of jurisdiction and
failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.
We affirm.
I.
Background
[¶
2] Plaintiffs alleged that the County reneged on
promises it made in a 1993 campaign to solicit support for a
referred ballot measure raising taxes for the purchase and
maintenance of "open space" around their community.
[¶
3] In their complaint, plaintiffs alleged that
• They reside or resided on taxable real property they
own or owned in the Gunbarrel Public Improvement District
(GPID), which was created in 1993 via a County resolution for
the purpose of "provid[ing] for the acquisition,
construction, and installation of open space areas and public
parks."
• The Board of Directors of the GPID — which
comprises the same members as the County — called a
special election in 1993 to raise, over eleven years, an
additional $2.535 million in property taxes to purchase land
and dedicate it as "open space" off limits to
residential development.
• The 1993 Boulder County Election Notice accompanying
the proposed tax increase included a statement that
"[t]he Boulder County Commissioners have indicated that,
subject to the passage of this issue and the County Open
Space tax, the County will provide a matching contribution
towards open space purchase within the [GPID] up to a maximum
of $1,900,000."
• Similarly, a campaign flyer, authored by the County
and others, noted, with respect to a proposed increase in the
Boulder County Sales Tax, that the additional "funds
would provide the 50% match that the County Commissioners
have promised to support Gunbarrels Open Space ballot item.
If this item passes, Gunbarrel residents will directly see
the benefits in open space purchased within Gunbarrel —
to the tune of or about $1.9 million dollars."
• By these statements, the County "induced electors
to tax themselves by committing to match the funds generated
by the Gunbarrel ...