CO Code § 30-20-402 (2021)
2021 Colorado Code|Title 30 - Government - County|Article 20 - Public Improvements|Part 4 - Sewer and Water Systems|§ 30-20-402. Powers

  In addition to the powers which it may now have, any county without an election of the qualified electors thereof has power under this part 4:   To acquire by gift, purchase, lease, or exercise of the right of eminent domain, to construct, to reconstruct, to improve, to better, and to extend water facilities or sewerage facilities, or both, wholly within or wholly without the county, or partially within and partially without the county, and to acquire by gift, purchase, or the exercise of the right of eminent domain lands, easements, and rights in land in connection therewith;    To operate and maintain water facilities or sewerage facilities, or both, for its own use and for the use of public and private consumers and users within and without the territorial boundaries of the county, but no water service or sewerage service, or combination of them, shall be furnished in any other county or in any municipality unless the approval of such other county or municipality is obtained as to the territory in which the service is to be rendered;    To accept loans or grants, or both, from the United States under any federal law to aid in financing the cost of engineering, architectural, or economic investigations or studies, surveys, designs, plans, working drawings, specifications, procedures, or other action preliminary to the construction of water facilities or sewerage facilities, or both;    To accept loans or grants, or both, from the United States under any federal law for the construction of necessary water facilities or sewerage facilities, or both;    To enter into joint operating agreements, contracts, or arrangements with consumers concerning water facilities or sewerage facilities, or both, whether acquired or constructed by the county or consumer, and to accept grants and contributions from consumers for the construction of water facilities or sewerage facilities, or both. When determined by its board to be in the public interest and necessary for the protection of the public health, any county is authorized to enter into and perform contracts, whether long-term or short-term, but in no event exceeding fifty years, with any consumer for the provision and operation by the county of sewerage facilities to abate or reduce the pollution of waters caused by discharges of wastes by a consumer and the payment periodically by the consumer to the county of amounts at least sufficient, in the determination of such board, to compensate the county for the cost of providing, including payment of principal and interest charges, if any, and of operating and maintaining the sewerage facilities serving such consumer.    To prescribe, revise, and collect in advance or otherwise from any consumer or any owner or occupant of any real property connected therewith or receiving service therefrom rates, fees, tolls, and charges, or any combination thereof, for the services furnished by, or the direct or indirect connection with, or the use of, or any commodity from, such water facilities or sewerage facilities, or both, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, minimum charges, charges for the availability of service, tap fees, disconnection fees, reconnection fees, and reasonable penalties for any delinquencies, including but not necessarily limited to interest on delinquencies from any date due at a rate of not exceeding one percent per month, or fraction thereof, reasonable attorney fees, and other costs of collection, without any modification, supervision, or regulation of any such rates, fees, tolls, or charges by any board, agency, bureau, commission, or official other than the board of county commissioners collecting them; and, in anticipation of the collection of the revenues of such water facilities or sewerage facilities, or joint system, to issue revenue bonds to finance in whole or in part the cost of acquisition, construction, reconstruction, improvement, betterment, or extension of the water facilities or sewerage facilities, or both; and to issue temporary bonds until permanent bonds and any coupons appertaining thereto have been printed and exchanged for the temporary bonds;    To pledge to the punctual payment of said bonds and interest thereon all or any part of the revenues of the water facilities or sewerage facilities, or both, including the revenues of improvements, betterments, or extensions thereto, thereafter constructed or acquired, as well as the revenues of existing water facilities or sewerage facilities, or both;    To enter into and perform contracts and agreements with other counties or with municipalities for or concerning the planning, construction, lease, or other acquisition and the financing of water facilities or sewerage facilities, or both, and the maintenance and operation thereof. Any such counties or municipalities so contracting with each other may also provide in any contract or agreement for a board, commission, or such other body as their boards or governing bodies may deem proper for the supervision and general management of the water facilities or sewerage facilities, or both, and for the operation thereof, and may prescribe its powers and duties and fix the compensation of the members thereof.    To make all contracts, execute all instruments, and do all things necessary or convenient in the exercise of the powers granted in this section, or in the performance of its covenants or duties, or in order to secure the payment of its bonds; except that no encumbrance, mortgage, or other pledge of property, excluding any pledged revenues, of the county is created thereby, and except that no property, other than money, of the county is liable to be forfeited or taken in payment of said bonds, and except that no debt on the credit of the county is thereby incurred in any manner for any purpose; and    To issue water, or sewer, or joint water and sewer refunding revenue bonds to refund, pay, or discharge all or any part of its outstanding water, or sewer, or joint water and sewer revenue bonds issued under this part 4 or under any other law, including any interest thereon in arrears or about to become due, or for the purpose of reducing interest costs or effecting other economies or of modifying or eliminating restrictive contractual limitations appertaining to the issuance of additional bonds or to any county water facilities or sewerage facilities, or both, as provided in section 30-20-410.        History. Source: L. 71: P. 355, § 1. C.R.S. 1963: § 36-29-2 .    ANNOTATION   Section gives counties legally protected interest and therefore standing to file suit. Bd. of County Comm'rs v. Denver Bd. of Water Comm'rs, 718 P.2d 235 (Colo. 1986).   Authority to serve noncounty users. Denver is also a county as well as a city, and, as such, could be said to have parallel powers to serve noncounty water users under subsection (1)(b). Colo. Open Space Council, Inc. v. City & County of Denver, 190 Colo. 122 , 543 P.2d 1258 (1975).   Permissive grants of power that allow the county to construct, operate, improve, and extend storm water facilities and levy taxes to finance the acquisition, construction, operation, improvement, and extension thereof, do not impose a mandatory duty to remedy a particular harm and, therefore, do not establish a clear legislative intent to create a private cause of action. Larry H. Miller Corp.-Denver v. Bd. of County Comm'rs, 77 P.3d 870 (Colo. App. 2003).