Gubernatorial hopeful Josh Penry vowed this week to repeal the vehicle registration fee hike put in place this summer.
Once the economy begins rebounding — and the state’s general fund expands with it — Penry said, he would begin setting aside hundreds of millions in new money to replace the $250 million generated for Colorado’s roads and bridges by the new fees and fines dubbed “FASTER.”
The move sets Penry apart from his primary GOP opponent, but also sets him up for criticism from those who that his alternative roads funding plan won’t work
Budget gurus point out that by 2011, the state will be struggling to replace as much as $650 million in temporary stimulus money now propping up colleges, Medicaid and other critical programs. That’s atop another $1.4 billion in cuts to services, raids on cash funds and other fixes that have helped Colorado cope with a much leaner recession budget.
Penry said many of those cuts would stay in place, but declined to say which ones.
Former congressman Scott McInnis, one of Penry’s GOP opponents, has also blasted FASTER, but has stopped short of promising full repeal of the plan that is supported by Democrats and an array of business interests, but is less popular with drivers.
Any plan to repeal FASTER would require legislative approval.
If the legislature doesn’t act next year, McInnis will survey the landscape with an eye toward eventually doing away with the FASTER if he takes office, said campaign spokesman Sean Duffy.
Penry is more resolute.
“The car tax needs to go. It’s punitive and it’s wrong. It shouldn’t have been put into law in the first place,” he said.
And, in a shot at McInnis, Penry added: “It’s just horribly disingenuous for anyone to rail against FASTER on one hand and then on the other do nothing about it if elected.”
Penry said his long-term plan sets transportation as a top priority alongside other behemoths like education, health care and prisons, which sap most of the state’s budget each year. He said he would also find ways to reverse cuts to Medicaid and colleges that the state made and backfilled with stimulus money, which runs out in 2011, without providing specifics.
Penry, R-Grand Junction, said he would gradually phase out FASTER while building to the point where the state dedicates more than $300 million or 13.5 percent of sales tax – the estimated portion generated by automotive purchases – for roads and bridges.
There simply isn’t enough money to accomplish all that, said state Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, who sits on the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee and who found numerous flaws with Penry’s proposal.
There won’t be an opportunity to set aside transportation money for at least a year after the gubernatorial election, for example, since the general fund is expected to contract through at least 2011-2012, Ferrandino said.
And when that money comes back, there are increases in caseloads to be dealt with, increased costs associated with employees and important programs clamoring for funding restorations, he said.
“It would be nice if Sen. Penry lived in the reality the rest of us live in the legislature instead of the world on the campaign trail where you can say things without backing them up with facts,” Ferrandino said.
At a minimum, the state needs an additional $1 billion beyond this year’s budget allotment to maintain its roads and bridges, based on figures from a blue ribbon transportation panel.
This spring, lawmakers did away with two sporadic – but at times lucrative – transportation funding streams, leaving in place only the new fees, $450 million in gas tax and the original vehicle registration revenue and the promise of an additional $170 million to $230 million a year sometime in the future once personal incomes grow enough.
No plan – not the one lawmakers ended this year, not FASTER and not Penry’s proposal – would meet those needs.
The Colorado Contractors Association and dozens of business and transportation groups spent much of the 2009 session lobbying hard for FASTER. Spokesman Ken Smith declined to comment on other proposals, but said the additional transportation funding FASTER generates is essential.
“We will vigorously oppose any and all attempts to repeal or undermine FASTER,” said contractors association spokesman Ken Smith. “The state would be hosed without it.”
Republicans in the legislature are banking Democrats in the majority will be cowed by public outcry over FASTER and will go along with attempts to repeal the fee increase during the 2010 legislative session. Bills still being drafted include a repeal of the new $25 to $100 late registration fees at the least, Penry said.
Car registrations will increase by an average of $41 in the final stages of FASTER.
Jessica Fender: 303-954-1244 or jfender@denverpost.com.
