Water district increases fees to cover lawsuit, possible embezzlement

The Cascade Metropolitan District voted Tuesday to tack on a fee for it’s customers to cover the costs of a lawsuit and missing money from a possible case of embezzlement.

Customers from Cascade Metropolitan Water told the water board at the meeting they were forced to pay for mistakes they didn’t make.

The board is short on cash because its trying to settle a lawsuit to get water rights back from Colorado Springs Utilities. The board also said its investigating a possible case of embezzlement.

The board is trying to make up for lost money by tacking on a $25 monthly fee to its customers’ bills.

“We are paying the penalty for what somebody else did,” said customer Jay Vickerman.

“It’s a mess they’ve gotten us into, but they’re having us pay for it,” said customer Diannia Wagner.

KRDO NewsChannel 13 is working on confirming more information about this investigation.