Some Denver metro-area mayors want a FasTracks sales-tax increase on the November ballot and, to boost regional support and the chances of winning such a vote, propose slowing plans to build the DIA train and the Gold Line to Arvada/Wheat Ridge.
At a Monday meeting of a Metro Mayors Caucus task force, several mayors said they fear that RTD’s financial prospects are so bleak that the airport, Gold Line and West Corridor trains could eat up so much of the agency’s revenues over the next 25 years that none would be left to complete other lines that would be built initially only as shortened “stubs.”
“What if everybody is at risk when we go to the ballot?” Aurora Mayor Ed Tauer asked as he offered the “third option” to two untenable alternatives: building the West, DIA and Gold Line trains while “nothing else gets built,” or “building one-third of everything.”
The Interstate 225 light-rail line in Aurora is one of the lines in danger of being shortened, along with the North Metro line to Thornton/Northglenn and the Northwest train to Boulder/Longmont. Light- rail extensions to Lone Tree and Highlands Ranch also are threatened.
If the Regional Transportation District pushes ahead with plans to build the West light-rail line to Golden, the Denver International Airport line and the Gold Line, some residents in those corridors may have less incentive to back a tax increase that aims to ensure all FasTracks lines are built on time, say some mayors.
“We can’t put ourselves in a position where we get nothing,” said Thornton Mayor Erik Hansen, who is among those facing shortened lines.
RTD recently said it will cost $6.9 billion to build all FasTracks lines to their intended lengths by 2017, yet it expects to have only $4.7 billion in revenue to construct the project unless new money is raised.
The $2.2 billion funding gap could widen more if sales-tax trends continue.
RTD based its $4.7 billion in expected revenue on a forecast that sales-tax collections would decline 4.4 percent this year from 2008’s level. In January, RTD’s sales-and-use tax collections were down 13 percent from the same month a year ago.
RTD’s current 0.4 percent FasTracks sales-and-use tax would have to double to allow the agency to build all FasTracks lines by 2017, operate and maintain them, and service the billions of dollars in debt the agency will need to take on to build the system, according to a model presented to mayors Monday.
A vote in 2010 or later could mean planning for the DIA and Gold Line trains would be so far advanced that building regional support for a tax increase to complete remaining lines would be less likely, some mayors worry.
A new state law gives RTD’s board the authority to decide how much of a tax increase to seek and when to do so.
On Wednesday, the entire 38-member mayoral caucus will be briefed on options available to them, including a possible tax hike.
Support of the caucus is seen as critical to winning a tax increase and keeping RTD at the top of the list for federal money.
The West light-rail line to Golden has received a commitment of $308 million from the Federal Transit Administration.
Tauer’s plan calls for slowing or “phasing” the effort to bid for $1 billion in federal money for the DIA and Gold Line trains and an equal amount of private financing from companies interested in building and operating the two lines.
If plans for those lines are “phased” and a vote on a sales-tax increase fails, it will force RTD and local officials to make some difficult choices.
The grant of federal money is predicated on ridership expected from completed lines to DIA and Arvada/Wheat Ridge, said FasTracks planner Julie Skeen.
“Either we do shorter versions of everything without federal money,” she said, or assume the full buildout of lines to DIA and Arvada/Wheat Ridge and shorter versions of others.
Jeffrey Leib: 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com
