PUEBLO COUNTY — Homeowners in the Salt Creek neighborhood in Pueblo County are expected to receive refunds with interest in the coming weeks after overpaying on their property taxes for years.
The Pueblo Conservancy District is scheduled to meet Wednesday to vote on the refunds for neighbors.
News5Investigates first reported the issues neighbors were experiencing last month. It all started when a neighbor purchased another property outside of the Salt Creek neighborhood and realized she was paying significantly more to the Pueblo Conservancy District at her Salt Creek Property.
Caitlin McDonough received a refund in July for the last three years, without interest, even as she's owned the property since 2017. She reached out to other neighbors to see what their bills looked like and they realized they had also likely been overpaying.
The Pueblo Conservancy District said in a meeting last month it would be evaluating the entire county to see where the error was made. The district identified the problem dates back to 2015.
In a letter to neighbors and News5Investigates Monday morning, the attorney for the district, Don Banner said it has decided to prioritize the Salt Creek Neighborhood in getting their refunds to them. Neighbors will not only receive refunds for the error but will receive 12 percent interest on those overpayments.
Banner told News5Investigates that the district has identified more than 1,500 parcels that could potentially be impacted by the error based on the boundaries of the flood zone. The district does not believe all parcels were misclassified. Banner said the district's budget will not take a significant hit from these refunds.
News5Investigates also received the financial reports of the neighbor's refunds, they range in amounts from $44 to more than $2,300 for the overpayments since 2015.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE
Flood Zoned: neighbors paid hundreds of additional dollars in property taxes, now they want it back
Pueblo Conservancy District says homeowners will get interest on overpayments
_____
_____
Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.
