Colorado Springs looks to refund estimated $15m to residents on utility bills
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., (KRDO)- This Spring, Colorado Springs residents can expect some relief on their utility bill thanks to the TaxPayer's Bill of Rights. The City of Colorado Springs is set to refund an estimated $15 million to city residents in March and May.
The refunds will be credited to residential and commercial electric accounts on utility bills in March and May. The estimated total for both months could be $68 per eligible account.
Residents could expect a refund check of approximately $35 in March and $33 in May.
Some say they have mixed feelings about the credit.
"It's not even enough for a family of three to go out to eat, they should go ahead and keep those funds," said Carl Bendor, a Colorado Springs resident.
The refund is a chunk of the record-setting $35 million in tax revenues the city accumulated in 2021. It's above the cap set by TABOR--- and the huge amount is mainly due to more people spending money last year.
"We chose the mechanism of Colorado Springs Utilities because they are an enterprise of the city, we work very well with them and it was the easiest, most efficient, and cost-effective way to get that money back into the hands of the residents," said Charae McDaniel the Cheif Financial Officer for the City of Colorado Springs.
The refunds are also a result of the city retaining 20 million dollars for the wildfire mitigation fund.
"What we promised to the citizens was that anything in revenue that we collected above that $20 million we would refund back to the residents and so that is what we are doing," added McDaniel.
The city says that excess came out to the tune of $15 million.
"It is our way of sharing in the economic prosperity of the city and so it will not offset their whole bill, we understand that but we just want it to be a little something to help them out, help each household out with the high utility costs," said McDaniel.
The city is expecting their property tax revenue in 2022 to exceed the tabor limit by more than $2 million -- so another refund could be on the way.
