Water Tap FAQ Page
What was said regarding water taps at the town meeting?
On March 11th, 2025 the Board of Trustees of the Town of Paonia passed Resolution No. 10-2025 clarifying, reconciling and directing staff on lawfully served units with standby water fees for both in-town and out-of-town direct billed water taps. The resolution can be viewed on the town website or the Town Hall.
In addition to the resolution passed several exhibits were presented with a memorandum explaining the situation and historical situation in more detail.
Why was this issue brought up now?
- Customers that were paying water standby fees wanted to exercise what they believed to be a right to connect to the Town’s water system.
- Some of the properties associated with the water standby fees had been paying the fee for many years preceding the water moratorium of 2020. Policies, associated fees, and processes had changed significantly between 2002 and today.
- Inconsistencies in application of historic policies and procedures resulted in confusion and angst that needed to be clarified with clear direction and policy moving forward.
What the process will look like
The Paonia Board of Trustees directed staff to incorporate the following process for determining which property owners currently paying a water standby fee are eligible for a tap:
1) Property owners must be current on the payments of their water standby fees;
2) Property owners provide proof of prior payment of the tap fee to the satisfaction of the Administrator or designee;
3) In the absence of satisfactory proof, the property owner pays the requisite $6,000 in-town/$15,000 out-of-town, or remaining balance based on records of the Town or property owner to secure the tap and be provided with the opportunity to make payments in accordance with §13-1-30 (d), as well as be held to all provisions in the subsection.
With these guidelines town staff has begun contacting water standby customers in regards to their proof of payment. Town staff has discovered proof of payment for a number of customers and proof of partial payment for some additional customers. If town staff is unable to locate any proof of payment within the town records staff will then reach out to current customers to see if they have proof of payment. If current customers do have proof of payment in their possession town staff can assist with contacting the title company at time of sale in an attempt to locate any proof of payment. If proof of payment is unable to be located by town staff, current or prior property owners or title companies, the balance of the tap fee must be paid.
If the current owner is informed by town staff that there is not sufficient proof of payment and a balance is due the current owner, if they disagree, can request a special hearing, at no cost to the property owner, with the board of trustees to present their case.
Additional Installation costs
As per Paonia Town Code section 13-1-30(i) all costs of installation, equipment and materials related to the servicing of a water tap to be installed will be paid by the purchaser (customer) upon invoice by the Town of Paonia of any such taps and connection to the Town Water System.
Installation fee is in addition to the “right to connect” tap fees outlined in Town of Paonia code section 13-1-30(b). The Town will provide an estimated installation cost upon request before installation and offers 12, 18, and 24 month payment plan options to pay for installation. The Town will provide installation from the main waterline to property line or to meter pit, whichever comes first.
What happened to our records and how we plan to do better
Unfortunately, former town staff, during a period of high staff turnover, did not follow or were aware of record retention best practices and varied their record keeping practices inconsistently. No documentation had been saved digitally and paper documentation is limited.
The Town is currently using an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software and digitally adding documentation to customer accounts. Town also files documentation digitally separate from its ERP system in a backup server and keeps a paper copy in accordance with Colorado records retention policies.
We Encourage You to Contact Us with Any Questions
If you are a water standby customer and would like more information or if you have documentation of a proof of purchase for a current water standby customer please reach out to town staff at 970-527-4101, paonia@townofpaonia.com or stop by town hall.