RTD directors voted 13-1 tonight to not try to put a FasTracks sales tax increase on this November’s ballot.
Directors acted at a special meeting of the board after hearing Regional Transportation District staffers cite the unanimous opinion of at least a dozen political consultants that a tax election would be unwinnable this year.
Directors also were told that there was not expected to be enough financial support from the metro Denver business community to wage a tax-election campaign in 2011.
The FasTracks project, which includes six new train lines in metro Denver along with other transit elements, is at least $2 billion short of what is needed to complete the project by the end of this decade.
In 2004, metro Denver voters approved a 0.4 percent sales tax to pay for FasTracks, and RTD has determined that the agency needs a tax of another 0.4 percentage points to finish the project by decade’s end.
A number of directors said they want to get FasTracks completed as quickly as possible, but as director Matt Cohen told his colleagues: “I have yet to hear from the one individual who will step up with that big fat check for $1 million to make the campaign go forward this year.”
In 2004, FasTracks proponents spent about $3.6 million on the successful tax vote.
Cohen was among the majority who voted to delay the tax election beyond this year.
Only director Jack O’Boyle supported an election this year.
“In my opinion, 2011 is the right time to go,” he said.
Jeffrey Leib: 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com
