The city is touting its success in selling $32.48 million in certificates of participation that will fund the U.S. Olympic Committee deal, which it claims is a price considerably below original estimates.
But as with any complex financial deal, the devil is in the details — and the deal might not be as sweet as the city is spinning.
“The debt service [...] [...]
Attorney Lindsay Fischer filed a lawsuit yesterday afternoon in El Paso County District Court challenging the city's proposed issuance of certificates of participation to fund the proposed economic development agreement between Colorado Springs and the U.S. Olympic Committee.
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At a brief and sparsely attended meeting this afternoon, City Council approved the new economic development agreement with the U.S. Olympic Committee and agreed to settle the lawsuit that LandCo Equity Partners filed against the city in federal court.
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Attorney Lindsay Fischer, who has publicly expressed doubts about the legality of the city's plan to fund the economic development agreement with the U.S. Olympic Committee, says the city is making last-minute changes to the deal's funding structure.
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Colorado Springs attorney Lindsay Fischer has prepared a brief challenging the legality of the certificates of participation that the city intends to use to fund the proposed U.S. Olympic Committee deal.
Fischer, who also represents Central Bancorp chairman Ron Johnson in his complaint filed with the city Ethics Commission about Mayor Lionel Rivera, said that these COPs would be multi-year obligations, and as such must be approved by voters.
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City appears to be in no rush to issue COPs to pay for USOC headquarters project
The City of Colorado Springs has yet to market the debt instruments that will pay for its share of the cost of building new facilities for the U.S. Olympic Committee and the Olympic Training Center.
The city’s commitment, estimated to be [...] [...]
Certificates of participation (COPs) are a kind of municipal debt which can be contracted by cities without voter approval.
Courts have ruled that, because of their structure, COPs do not constitute long-term obligations of the issuing authority, and are therefore exempt from state and local laws that require voter approval of long-term debt. COPs were used [...] [...]
