RTD’s sales and use tax receipts were down 14.6 percent for the first two months of this year compared with the same period in 2008.
The Regional Transportation District relies on the tax collections to fund the bulk of its operating system, and they are the core funding source for its FasTracks expansion.
Sales taxes — by far the larger component of sales and use tax collections — were down 13.1 in the January/February period. Use taxes, which primarily are paid by businesses, were down 29 percent in the same period, but they were affected by a large one-time refund to a single taxpayer in January, RTD said.
The agency has cited declining sales tax collections as a major reason FasTracks will be short $2.2 billion in construction funding unless voters approve an additional tax for the transit project.
FasTracks includes six new train lines for metro Denver as well as extensions to three existing light-rail lines.
RTD said Friday it expects total sales and use tax collections for this year will be down 3.5 percent from 2008, although it said if a “worse” economic scenario prevails, tax collections for all of 2009 could decline 6.4 percent from last year.
To close a projected $23 million budget gap for 2009, RTD directors recently approved bus and rail service cuts that will go into effect in May, as well as elimination of merit pay for salaried employees this year and a freeze on hiring any more salaried personnel in 2009.
