DENVER—The Regional Transportation District board has decided against asking voters for a sales tax increase to help expand transit programs in the Denver area.
The board voted Tuesday in a special meeting against seeking approval of the increase. The money would have helped RTD cover a $2.4 billion budget gap in its FasTracks program, which will take longer to complete without additional tax revenue.
Members of the RTD board say it’s a tough time because of the economy to ask people to pay more in taxes. The tax proposal voted down would have added 4 cents to a $10 purchase.
Denver-area voters approved a 0.4 sales tax in 2004 to finance FasTracks, which includes six new train lines and extensions to three existing light-rail lines.
Already under construction is a 12-mile line from Denver to the west suburbs of Lakewood and Golden. The agency says it has enough money to build the 24-mile commuter rail line from Union Station in downtown Denver to Denver International Airport.
But RTD officials say without a doubling of the current sales tax, it might take until 2042 to complete other rail lines in the north and east suburbs and to the Boulder-Longmont area.
