Colorado Springs might reach $9 million in “excess” sales tax revenues from 2016, and Mayor John Suthers wants voters to let the city spend $6 million of that sum on stormwater projects and then refund the rest.

The City Council approved a ballot issue to that effect Tuesday in a 6-3 decision, asking voters in the April 4 election to let the city keep up to $6 million each in extra sales taxes from 2016 and 2017.

The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights limits how much tax revenue the city can keep, but voters often let the city retain the excess if they’re convinced it’s for a good cause.

TABOR author Douglas Bruce, paroled early Sept. 3, chided the council Tuesday for the first time since he was sentenced March 11 to two years in prison for probation violations.

Bruce charged that last April 20 – which he noted were Hitler’s birthday and the anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre – the council massacred the rights of Colorado Springs citizens by passing “a flagrant violation of TABOR at the city level.”

On that date, the city entered a $460 million, 20-year agreement with Pueblo County to complete 71 stormwater projects agreed to by engineers for both governments. Without that pact, Pueblo County could have withheld a permit that let Colorado Springs Utilities complete its Southern Delivery System water project now serving four jurisdictions.

“The mayor orchestrated it and arranged it . He wants to make a down payment on this obligation by taking $6 million in people’s tax funds. It comes down to $1,000 for every man, woman and child,” Bruce said.

Stormwater has become a more critical issue since regulators literally made a federal case out of it.

After at least 10 years of neglect by the city, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state health department filed a lawsuit against the city in November.

The EPA had twice audited the city’s oversight of stormwater and found it wanting, with built-up sedimentation, foliage- and trash-clogged culverts and lax requirements of developers leading to poor water quality and uncontrolled waters surging downstream through Fountain Creek.

Even the city’s $460 million pact didn’t satisfy the EPA.

The 71 planned projects benefit city and Pueblo County residents but don’t address localized needs in Colorado Springs. That’s where the $12 million over two years would help.

It would pay for 26 “extremely important” projects addressing community and neighborhood drainage needs, Stormwater Manager Richard Mulledy said Monday.

Those are the kinds of problems cited by the EPA.

“We still have an overriding issue with stormwater,” Suthers told the council Monday. “These projects will greatly enhance our standing in terms of resolution of that (federal) case. I think it should be our absolute top priority.”

Money already budgeted for the other capital improvement projects can’t be changed without a council vote. So the $6 million, if approved by voters, would add to the $13.5 million minimum the city must spend, as would $3 million coming from Colorado Springs Utilities, Suthers said.

“I suspect the city will be spending well in excess of $20 million per year, but we’ll be obligated to spend at least $19.5 million,” the mayor said.

“Without the $6 million, we’d be spending at least enough to ensure we average $17 million over five years (as required by the intergovernmental agreement).”

But the unusually rich influx of sales tax revenues last year gives the city an opportunity to get ahead of the curve, he said.

“So that if we have a downturn, we can still make that average without making major cuts elsewhere,” Suthers said. “And also keep in mind we may have some additional stormwater obligations resulting from federal litigation.”

The TABOR ballot issue drew opposition from Councilwoman Helen Collins, a longtime friend of Bruce, and from Councilmen Andy Pico and Bill Murray.

“I will oppose this because we should have asked voters about this $460 million (agreement with Pueblo County),” Collins said.

Murray said the extra tax revenue should go to public safety.

“Last year the mayor said to take $500,000 from police and firefighters to balance the budget. Now we have $9 million extra but won’t address that need,” he said, though all agree the police are greatly underfunded.

Said Pico: “I don’t think we should be asking for TABOR excess unless we have an overriding reason. While they’re all valid projects, we’re already executing the plan we laid out.”

Also, Pico said, much of the extra sales tax revenue is the result of people on the city’s east side replacing roofs, windows, cars and siding since last summer’s major hailstorm. “I don’t think it’s right that we’d be cashing in on that hailstorm,” Pico said.

Ultimately, the city must find a long-term solution to its stormwater woes, which were exacerbated when the last City Council eradicated the Stormwater Enterprise Fund. That fund assessed fees on local properties using a formula based largely on the impermeable surface area.

Once the federal lawsuit is resolved, the mayor and council will need to decide the next move.

Perhaps voters could be asked to extend Ballot Issue 2C, a five-year sales tax measure to rebuild and repair roads, Suthers suggested.

“We’ll probably do some polling and determine how to resolve this long-term,” he said.