The Denver Post reports that rapidly escalating residential water bills have resulted in a months-long effort to remove more than half of Westminster’s City Council from office. Recall proponents have hired former Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler to challenge Westminster’s determination that not enough valid signatures were collected to hold a recall election aimed at four City Council members, including Mayor Herb Atchison. No date for a hearing on the complaint has been set.
Westminster’s monthly water rates went up between 11% and 47% from 2018 to 2019, with the heaviest water users getting hit the hardest. Another 11% bump went into effect in 2020, according to city data. Anita Seitz, who has been on the council for seven years and was just re-elected in 2019, said Westminster had to raise water rates in 2018 to pay for needed fixes and overhauls of the city’s aging water and sewer system, including tanks, pipes and pumping stations that have exceeded their working life.
Read more on this story from the Denver Post.
Print