Lakewood is about face a costly reckoning with the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights — to the tune of more than $42 million.

That’s the amount the state’s fifth-largest city has calculated it owes to dozens of cell phone carriers and telecommunications companies it wrongfully taxed for years. The bill is now coming due after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled last year that the city had violated TABOR, a state constitutional amendment, by levying a business and occupation tax without first obtaining voter approval.

The $42,154,189 the city must return to 177 companies represents more than 13% of the city’s 2026 budget — an amount that has Lakewood Councilman Jacob LaBure clenching his fists in frustration.

“I’m angry — I think it’s a big setback for the city,” he said. “There’s a lot at stake with this.”

In order to come up with the money to rectify the illegal collection, Lakewood may have to take a proverbial ax to planned programs and projects in the Jefferson County city, said Holly Bjorklund, Lakewood’s chief financial officer.

“It might be a decision to reduce the scope of a project — or canceling a project altogether,” she said. “It’s a significant impact.”

The Lakewood City Council voted earlier this month to move a sizable supplemental budget request resulting from the matter to the Jan. 26 council meeting.

Exactly what sacrifices the city will have to make in terms of nixed projects and rearranged priorities will be determined over the next few months, as city staff attempts to balance the budget in the face of Lakewood’s steep obligations.

Read more at the Denver Post