A study group appointed by Gov. Bill Ritter to explore ways to rebuild Colorado’s crumbling transportation network identified five funding options last Thursday. They could be described in political terms as unlikely, more unlikely, very unlikely, impossible and don’t even think about it.
The panel weighed three packages of possible tax and fee increases that could raise $500 million, $1 billion or $1.5 billion a year in new money for the state’s mounting backlog of transportation needs.
Those numbers look sizeable and might be difficult to sell the public, which would have to approve them under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. That’s why we categorize them under the various degrees of unlikely.
The panel apparently shares our pessimism, because it dropped a fourth option that would have boosted funding by $2 billion a year after brief discussion. The final plan, a $2.5 billion blend of tax and fee increases, was killed without comment.
Before analyzing the surviving options, it’s worth noting that even the highest, “don’t even think about it” plan would have raised only $70 billion by 2035. That’s little more than the $63 billion the Colorado Department of Transportation’s 2035 Statewide Transportation Plan describes as the minimum increase it needs “just to sustain existing transportation service levels” through 2035. It’s $81 billion short of the staggering $151 billion CDOT claims it needs to “fulfill the vision of the citizens of Colorado and to meet community values throughout the state.”
The three surviving plans would generate about $14 billion, $28 billion and $42 billion by 2035 — all falling far short of the supposed $63 billion minimum increase necessary just to sustain existing service.
It’s true that it is in the nature of bureaucracies everywhere to overstate their funding needs. But it is even more true that the economic future of Colorado depends upon maintaining at least an adequate transportation network. The three surviving options not only fail to meet that test, they would shortchange local governments and the transit systems necessary to meet the environmental challenges of the 21st century.
Cities and counties share in the state’s Highway Users Tax Fund. Last year, counties got $162.5 million while $106.6 million went to cities. All told, local governments received 33.4 percent of the fund to maintain the local feeder networks without which state highways are little more than “roads to nowhere.”
By contrast, the $500 million proposal allocates just $40 million to cities and counties. The $1 billion plan would allocate only $95 million to local streets and bridges. Even the $1.5 billion funding increase would allocate only $293 million to hardpressed cities and counties. All three formulas fall far short of paying for the $24 billion shortfall in local highway needs by 2035 identified by the state plan.
Transit fares even worse, receiving precisely nothing under the $500 million plan, $173 million under the $1 billion plan and $363 million a year under the $1.5 billion annual option.
Some political observers suggest Ritter is leaning toward the minimum, $500 million plan. In our view, that bare-bones proposal wouldn’t generate the support from local communities and environmental groups necessary for it to pass.
Any tax increase faces a stiff fight. If Ritter is going to enter that fray, he should at least battle for a package that would pay for Colorado’s minimum transportation needs.
