It was with interest I read Rep. Rick Taggart’s opinion “Transparency a two-way street for metro district debt” on Aug. 24 regarding the public’s ongoing concern about the accountability and transparency of metro districts. However, political commentary ought to be read with an eye on what is not said as well as what is.

What the Grand Junction state representative didn’t mention was the unscrupulous lawyers, developers, bond underwriters and district managers who continually lobby state, county and city elected officials in the creation and exploitation of the special district state statutes for their own benefit.

The vast majority of abuse from some special district boards comes from this industry group who convince local municipalities to approve new districts and give them carte blanche to claw back TABOR refunds owed to district taxpayers, remove term limits on the initially installed directors, and “vote” on excessively inordinate debt authorizations in the very first election before taxpayers arrive on the scene.

But the worst abuse of all is the allowance of developer-controlled board members to purchase the tax-exempt bonds which they themselves issue via a private no-bid issue with inflated repayment schedules (Rep. Taggart voted this year for legislation to continue this abuse).

Residential taxpayers, as well as the business owners within a Business Improvement District (BID), are tired of being used as a piggy bank for this whole industry which gleans millions of dollars of their mandatory tax payments to foster a quasi-government entity whose purpose is supposed to be for the construction of needed infrastructure for future residents and businesses.

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There is lots of talk about “accountability and transparency,” but City Councils and County Commissioners continue to rubber stamp whatever the developer boards put in front of them. Financial analysis rarely occurs due to the volume of information and the immense, and growing, number of special districts which they continue to generate.

Residents and small businesses have all the right to govern themselves on these government boards and are becoming much more irate at developers, their attorneys and their elected officials who continue to allow abuse by the few bad apples who hijack the taxing authority of metro districts and BIDs for their own self-enrichment.

Be prepared to see the continued growing effort by taxpayers to take more control of the collection and expenditures of their tax burdens. Maybe some legislators will see the light and get these groups together and come up with a just solution rather than continually fight it out year after year in the legislative sessions.

Timothy J. Leonard is president of Deepwater Point Company and a former state legislator for House District 25 (Evergreen) representing the foothills of Jefferson County.