If St. Augustine were alive to observe the upcoming Denver election, he would understand the mixed message now being sent by civic leaders fighting to end a costly cycle of neglect of the city’s basic infrastructure.
The great theologian, a libertine in his youth, once famously prayed: “Oh lord, grant me continence – but not just yet.”
Denver has long skimped on maintenance of its $5 billion in sewers, parks, overpasses, buildings and other assets. Every 10 years or so, things get so bad that the politicians ask voters for a bond issue to repair that crumbling infrastructure.
This week, Denver voters will start receiving their mail-only ballots. Mayor John Hickenlooper and his allies are pleading for voters to end the cycle of neglect and catch up by approving issue 1A – a 2.5 mill property tax increase to raise $27.5 million a year, all of which would be earmarked for future maintenance of city facilities.
But like St. Augustine, Hickenlooper can’t switch to such a fiscally responsible policy “just yet.” That’s because past neglect has again saddled the city with a backlog of urgently needed repairs estimated at $350 million. Thus, the ballot also includes eight separate bond issues, 1B through 1I, to repair decayed facilities. Interwoven with those catch-up monies are $200 million worth of new or upgraded facilities, including branch libraries in Stapleton, Green Valley Ranch and west Denver, new recreation centers in Stapleton and central Denver, a new crime lab, and traffic upgrades.
Proof of the wisdom of routine maintenance is as close as your nearest pothole. Denver divides its streets into four categories: excellent, good, fair and poor.
Public Works Director Bill Vidal says “fair” is the critical rating, because it means cracks are beginning to show. On a quiet residential street, that means it’s time to chip and seal the pavement at a cost of about $2.50 per square yard. A higher volume street like Sixth Avenue can be rotomilled and overlaid at a still reasonable $10 per square yard.
But if a street doesn’t get that maintenance when it needs it, water will attack the surface in a vicious freeze/thaw cycle that will shatter the base pavement in two or three years. Then, it costs a staggering $80 to $120 a square yard to rebuild the asphalt or concrete pavement. A mile of two-lane street that could have been maintained for as little as $17,600 to $70,400 will now cost taxpayers as much as $840,000 to rebuild.
Preventive maintenance isn’t glamorous, but it is the acid test of how elected officials serve as stewards of taxpayers’ money.
By that standard, Denver hasn’t done well since the days of the legendary Mayor Robert Speer. The city does have $44.5 million in its current capital improvement budget, most of it spent on maintenance. But a special committee named by Hickenlooper concluded the city is still postponing about $25.4 million annually in maintenance. That report led directly to Issue 1A, a special fund legally earmarked to augment, not replace, existing maintenance efforts.
The owner of an average home in Denver valued at $255,000 will pay an extra $50.75 a year if 1A passes. If all eight bond issues are approved, that homeowner will pay an additional $12.53 annually, for a total tax increase of $63.27.
Skeptics are critical
The prospect of two tax increases in one election has some skeptics questioning issue 1H, which provides $40 million to expand Boettcher Hall, home of the Denver Symphony, and $30 million to upgrade the popular Denver Museum of Science and Nature. Denver’s property tax base has grown enough so that it could support $480 million in new bonds without a mill levy increase. Hence, defeating 1H would avert the need for the second, $12.53, tax hike, critics say.
Mathematically, that’s indisputable. But the same is true about any other projects on the ballot that would total $70 million or more. Defeating 1E, for example, would trim $93.4 million while killing plans to repair existing park facilities and build the two new recreational centers.
Business leaders back the Museum of Nature and Science and Boettcher Hall with special fervor because they’re the only issues on the ballot that bring new money into Denver.
Nobody expects tourists to drive in from Akron to gaze in awe at the new police firing range funded by issue 1E. But visitors do throng to the museum and symphony, providing jobs and tax revenues in Denver’s thriving hospitality industry.
As an extra bonus, 1H is heavily leveraged with private funds. If Denver taxpayers approve the $70 million seed money, backers of the museum and symphony have pledged to raise an additional $145 million, matching Denver’s dollars more than two to one. No other item on the ballot includes such private matching funds.
1A
What it is: Capital maintenance mill levy of $27.5 million for the restoration, rehabilitation, refurbishment or replacement of capital infrastructure, including parks, public works, buildings and other public facilities.
Where the money would go: It’s a 2.5 mill increase in the city’s tax levy, an annual increase in capital maintenance that would cost the average homeowner $50.75 a year.
1B
What it is: Health and human services facilities bonds of $43.6 million for improvements to Denver Health; renovations to child care centers; and replacing the Denver Municipal Animal Shelter and Eastside Human Services.
Where the money would go:
1C
What it is: Library system facilities bonds of $51.9 million for projects including deferred maintenance on existing facilities and constructing new branch facilities.
Where the money would go:
1D
What it is: Streets, transportation and public works system facilities bonds of $99.8 million for repairing streets and/ or increasing road capacity; improving multimodal accessibility; repairing sound walls; repairing and/or replacing curbs and gutters; improving transit stop connections, street-
scapes and upgrading medians; and building a Cherry Creek Solid Waste facility.
Where the money would go, among 25 projects:
1E
What it is: Park system facilities bonds of $93.4 million for maintenance, rehabilitation, restoration, repair and/or replacement of drainage and irrigation systems; pools; historic structures and features, playground and building systems; landscapes; trails, roads and parking lots; and acquisition, design and development of land, park and recreation centers.
Where the money would go, among 22 projects:
1F
What it is: Public office facilities bonds of $10.4 million for deferred maintenance of public office facilities, including the City and County Building and the former City Permit Center.
Where the money would go:
1G
What it is: Deferred maintenance for cultural facilities bonds of $60.5 million for restoration, rehabilitation, refurbishment or replacement of capital infrastructure, including parks, public works, buildings and other public facilities.
Where the money would go:
1H
What it is: New construction of cultural facilities bonds of $70 million, for new construction of cultural system facilities, including classrooms, labs, a teacher education center and other facilities for the Denver Museum of Nature & Science; and the reconstruction and expansion of the Boettcher Concert Hall.
Where the money would go:
1I
What it is: Public safety system facilities bonds of $65 million for construction, renovation or replacement of a police crime lab, firing range, fire stations and police traffic operations facility.
Where the money would go:
