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Public commenters accuse Larimer County of failing to address alleged mortgage exploitation and urban-renewal abuses
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Summary
At the March 31 Larimer County administrative meeting, two public commenters alleged county failures: Eric Sutherland said local urban‑renewal/tax‑increment practices may violate constitutional limits and have diverted revenues, while Brett Lessman said the sheriff's office declined to treat an alleged mortgage/insurance exploitation as criminal and labeled aspects of the deputy's report 'fabricated.'
At the Larimer County Board of County Commissioners Administrative Matters meeting on March 31, two members of the public used the board's public‑comment period to press the county on accountability and law‑enforcement response.
Eric Sutherland told commissioners the county is “missing the win” on urban renewal, saying about 6% of revenues tied to Larimer County mill levies are being captured through tax‑increment mechanisms with little public benefit. Sutherland said a Supreme Court review and a 2005 Laramie County settlement show that tax increment must represent money that would otherwise be unavailable, and he urged the board to pursue remedies for what he characterized as an unconstitutional practice that, he said, has defrauded taxpayers of “tens of millions of dollars.”
Brett Lessman of Fort Collins described a separate, detailed consumer‑protection complaint. Lessman said he and his wife withdrew a HELOC application on Feb. 8, 2026, but later discovered Citibank had been listed as a mortgagee on their homeowners policy and Farmers Insurance had revised the policy to reflect a second lien without the couple’s written authorization. Lessman said those changes were made “without a deed of trust or a signed mortgage agreement as required by law.” He told the board he contacted the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office and was initially assigned a criminal case number by Deputy Zach Reynolds, but later says the case was reclassified as civil. Lessman said a supervisor, Justin Calkins, told him the deputy’s report indicated the loan had been approved and $30,000 disbursed — a conclusion Lessman called a “fabricated falsehood.”
Commissioners did not take formal action on either claim during the meeting. Chair Jody Shaddagh McNally told Lessman the county had received his email and said she would respond to him by the end of the day. No further on‑the‑record followup or assignment to staff was recorded.
The meeting record includes the allegations, the request for investigation and the chair’s pledge to reply by email; it does not include a detailed account from sheriff's‑office staff or a recorded commitment to open a new criminal investigation. The board did not vote on, or otherwise formally direct, any additional inquiry during the session.
