It’s known as a public improvement fee or more commonly by its catchy acronym – PIF. Whatever it’s called, it’s a head scratcher for some Colorado Springs shoppers and diners who pay it.
A few weeks ago, Leanne Thompson picked up a drive-thru order at Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers in the InterQuest Marketplace shopping center, east of Interstate 25 and InterQuest Parkway.
When she looked at her receipt, Thompson saw the $5.79 cost of her veggie burger, 48 cents for sales tax and an additional 7-cent charge for an item labeled “PIF.” The bottom of the receipt explained that a public improvement fee of 1.25 percent had been added to the transaction.
“I was just curious on why that fee was on there and what it went for,” Thompson said. “I just want to make sure that people are doing the right thing and not taking advantage of customers.”
Public improvement fees might be somewhat new to Colorado Springs residents, but they’ve been used in Colorado for years. And real estate developers who are the driving force behind PIFs increasingly look to them as a funding tool to help pay for curbs, gutters, landscaping, parking lots, lighting and the cost of other improvements on their commercial properties.
