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May 21, 2008 9:11 pm US/Mountain
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Rich, Powerful Not Paying City Resulting In Liens
DENVER (CBS4) ―
From professional athletes to prominent developers, the City of Denver is slapping liens on properties at a record clip; all because people aren't paying their annual storm drainage bills.
In the first two months of the year, the city placed liens on 2,288 properties for non-payment of storm drainage bills, 40 percent more than during the same time period last year. A lien from the city means the property owner cannot sell their property until they clear up their bill.
Bill Vidal, Director of Public Works, sees the increase as a sign the economy is not doing well. He called the increasing lien rate over storm drainage bills a "general sign of the economy."
Vidal says the storm drainage system is "an important system to maintain. If we don't maintain it, areas will flood."
The system is supported by yearly fees paid by property owners. But more and more people are ignoring those bills and ending up with liens placed on their property for non-payment of their storm drainage bills.
Public Works administrators say they put liens on properties only after sending three notices to the property owner that they haven't paid their bill.
CBS4 reviewed the current lien list and found some surprising names. Former Broncos kicker Fred Steinfort landed on the list for not paying $193 in storm drainage bills on his home in the University Hills neighborhood.
City records show John Dutton, quarterback for the Colorado Crush, also ended up on the list for his home in the Green Valley Ranch neighborhood. Dutton told CBS4 he wasn't aware of the lien. He said his home has been for sale for months and he has not been living there. He wasn't sure if he had received notices from the city.
Former Denver City Attorney Dan Muse also ended up with a lien on his southeast Denver home. He said it was an oversight and that he had simply forgotten to pay the bill. Since we talked to Muse, he has paid off the lien.
Also quick to pay up after hearing from CBS4 was 24 Hour Fitness at Lowry. The facility had a lien on its property for not paying the city more than $9,000 in back storm drainage bills. Three days after CBS4 asked about the lien, 24 Hour Fitness paid up.
Sally Zeman has also paid up. Zeman is a bankruptcy trustee in Denver, so she presumably knows a thing or two about not paying bills. But she hadn't paid hers and ended up with a lien on her home along 6th Avenue. A man at Zeman's home said she probably knows better, but "she doesn't open her mail all the time." Zeman has paid off her city debt and had the lien removed.
But many others have not. CBS4 found the names of developers, lawyers, current and former Denver police officers and other prominent members of the community on the lien list.
The 2,288 liens issued this year represent $482,897 owed to the city.
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