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$193 million in GO Bond spending gets council OK Unanimous vote dedicates funding to cultural facilities, other needs Marcus Brockman poses for a portrait in front of his Green Valley Ranch home on April 30.
Affordable housing program is outstanding debacle Homeowners wait for solutions after plan went badly off track BY ANDREW KENNEY AKENNEY@DENVERITE.COM
Mark Eggert is stuck in limbo. He and his wife are among more than 300 homeowners in Denver who may be violating the rules of an affordable homes program. “Me and my wife just got married
last June. It’s just been stressful throughout the entire process. And since we’re not really both legal people — we never expected to have to deal with an attorney,” said Eggert, a 31-year-old who works in the mortgage industry. “We just don’t know what to do.” Recently, city officials have said that they could make exceptions for people who accidentally broke the rules, potentially allowing them to stay in their homes. But that could take months more to settle out. And few if any cities have ever faced a problem like the
BY ALLAN TELLIS ALLAN@DENVERITE.COM
KEVIN J. BEATY/DENVERITE.COM
How did this happen? Eggert bought his home for $213,000 late in 2015. He and his wife were the fourth owners — and they weren’t the first to potentially run afoul of the program. At one point, it had passed through the hands of an LLC,
The $937 million GO Bond package that Denver voters approved last November is finally getting put into action. Denver City Council unanimously voted on May 1 to approve the initial investments into community projects that will cost $193 million in total. Taking on debt for the GO Bond follows Denver’s strategy of undertaking a significant borrowing cycle roughly once a decade, since the last major bond was taken out in 2008. This bond, however, will not be funded by increases in taxes. Instead, it will be supported by rising property values. Because property in Denver is worth more than it used to be, the city collects more money even though it is charging the same tax rate for debt service. After receiving an update on the status of
SEE HOUSING, P16
SEE FUNDING, P2
one Denver is dealing with, according to one national expert. In the meantime, homeowners like Eggert are weighing their options: Sell. Sue. Or try to stay put.
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THE BOTTOM LINE PERIODICAL
There are days, weeks, months or longer where we get stuck listening to our own talk track in our heads. Michael Norton | columnist | Page 8 INSIDE
VOICES: PAGE 8 | LIFE: PAGE 10 | CALENDAR: PAGE 15 VOLUME 91 | ISSUE 27