CO Code § 31-20-106 (2021)
2021 Colorado Code|Title 31 - Government - Municipal|Article 20 - Taxation and Finance|Part 1 - Taxation and Assessment Collection|§ 31-20-106. County Treasurer to Collect Municipal Taxes - Liens - Publication

     It is the duty of the treasurer of said county and he is authorized to collect the municipal taxes in the same manner and at the same time as other taxes upon the same tax list are collected. The expense of construction and repair of sidewalks, streets, paving of streets, curb and gutter, drainage facilities, or other improvements, which are placed upon municipal streets, other than pursuant to part 5 of article 25 of this title, shall be assessed in the manner prescribed by the ordinance of any such municipality upon the property fronting upon the same. Except for the construction and repair of sidewalks, no such assessments for other construction shall be made by the municipality unless approved by petition signed by not less than sixty percent of the owners of property fronting upon the same and owning at least sixty percent of the property fronting thereon. Such assessment shall be a lien upon said property until it is paid. In case of failure to pay such assessment in a reasonable time, to be specified by ordinance, the assessment, at any time after such failure, may be certified by the clerk of such municipality to the officer having the custody of the tax list at the time such certification is made to be placed by him upon such tax list for the current year and collected in the same manner as other taxes are collected, with ten percent penalty thereon to defray the cost of collection. All the laws of the state for the assessment and collection of general taxes, including the laws for the sale of property for taxes and their redemption of the same, shall apply and have as full effect for the collection of all such municipal taxes as for such general taxes, except as modified by this title.    Nothing in paragraph (a) of this subsection (1) shall be construed to repeal existing statutes concerning the power to levy taxes, charges, and assessments and the procedures for the assessments and collection thereof.       The county treasurer, at the close of every month and more often if the governing body of said municipality requires, shall pay over to the municipal treasurer all moneys collected by him upon the presentation to him of an order signed by the mayor and clerk of such municipality. Any such county treasurer shall be liable on his official bond for the faithful discharge of all the duties and obligations imposed upon him.    In case of sale of any lot or tract of ground for delinquent sidewalk tax, the same shall be advertised and sold for such tax, and the certificate of sale and deed therefor shall be made separate from the sale certificate and deed for other taxes. The amount of sidewalk tax so assessed shall not be certified to the county clerk and recorder until notice of such assessment has been published for ten days in some newspaper published in such municipality as provided by the ordinance of such municipality, giving the lot owner an opportunity to be heard before the governing body, at the time and place designated, as to the justness and correctness of the amount so assessed. The provisions of this title relating to collecting the expense of construction and repairs of sidewalks shall be construed to be for the purpose of carrying into effect the police powers of municipalities as to such construction and repairs of sidewalks and shall not be construed as imposing a special tax under the taxing power. The ordinance of such municipality shall provide for a reasonable time after the order of such municipality for the construction or repairs of such sidewalks for the owners of such lots to construct or repair such sidewalks. In case any such owners fail to so construct or repair such sidewalk in the time and manner prescribed by said ordinances, such municipality may proceed to construct or repair such sidewalk and charge such owners as prescribed by ordinance and in the manner described in this section.     History. Source: L. 75: Entire title R&RE, p. 1127, § 1, effective July 1.    Editor's note:   This section is similar to former § 31-20-106 as it existed prior to 1975.   ANNOTATION   Inapplicable to sales made in pursuance of a special assessment. It is sufficient to say that no language to be found in this section will warrant the court in holding it was the intention of the general assembly to make this section applicable to sales made in pursuance of a special assessment for a sidewalk. Richardson v. City of Denver, 17 Colo. 398 , 30 P. 333 (1892).   The rule of caveat emptor applies to a purchaser at an invalid tax sale of a city lot for delinquent sewer taxes and neither the purchaser nor his assignee of the tax sale certificate is entitled to recover from the city the amount due upon such certificate. Elder v. Fox, 18 Colo. App. 263, 71 P. 398 (1903).   Estopped from enforcing unrecorded tax lien. Where a special sewer tax was assessed against a city lot but no record thereof was made either in the office of the county treasurer or county clerk, and 12 years after such assessment was made the city attempted to enforce its lien by causing said lot to be sold for said tax, the city was estopped to assert its tax lien as against a purchaser of the lot who purchased without notice of such tax and after an examination of the records for tax liens, and who received no notice of the tax or the tax sale until the purchaser at the tax sale applied for a deed upon his tax sale certificate, the holder of the tax sale certificate was not entitled to a deed and the tax lien and certificate should be annulled. Elder v. Fox, 18 Colo. App. 263, 71 P. 398 (1903).   Applied in Boston & Colo. Smelting Co. v. Elder, 20 Colo. App. 96, 77 P. 258 (1904).