Sales tax hike needed to keep Colorado moving

One thing everybody in Colorado agrees on — we need to fund our transportation system. Billions in unfunded projects are sitting on the drawing board while our state becomes increasingly difficult to navigate. Our residents deserve a solution rooted in reality that will provide the relief they’re demanding.

Since 1991, the last time Colorado increased taxes for transportation, spending per driver has been cut in half, while our population has nearly doubled, and lane miles have remained static. The gas tax is a diminishing source of revenue as vehicles have become more fuel efficient and alternativefuel vehicles have risen in popularity.

It is easy to see how this scenario results in the problems we face today. Meanwhile states such as Utah, which we compete with for talented people and highquality jobs, have made substantial investments in their transportation systems.

Our state leaders have focused on addressing our transportation funding, but they haven’t been able to make a dent in the need. This past year, the legislature focused on this priority, but their efforts fall well short of what is needed on an annual basis for transportation. Despite claims to the contrary, there is no magical pot of transportation money sitting in a secret closet at the state Capitol.

The bipartisan coalition that is supporting Proposition 110 — including state, county and municipal elected officials and business, civic, labor and other groups from every part of Colorado — understands that partial solutions or simply hoping the problem will get fixed will no longer work.

What does work is a big tent and frank conversations. While many in our coalition came to the table adamantly opposed to a tax increase, we all arrived at the same conclusion — Proposition 110 is the only route to a guaranteed, sustainable statewide solution that will actually improve our state and local transportation needs.

The proposal is straightforward. For 6 cents on a $10 purchase, Proposition 110 generates more than $700 million in just its first year, which creates a dedicated funding source for $6 billion in bonds, taking a significant chunk out of the $9 billion list of unfunded projects throughout the state identified by CDOT. Far from a blank check, voters can see the list of dozens of projects online at www.letsgocolorado.com.

Tackling longoverdue state projects is just part of how 110 will transform our transportation system.

A central priority in Proposition 110 is that we dedicate 40 percent of the new dollars to projects at the local level. The coalition recognizes the reality that 88 percent of the roads in Colorado are locally owned and maintained and that virtually all trips begin and end on county or municipal roads. If we ignore those local needs or leave them to every city and county, we will never have a true statewide transportation system. Proposition 110’s funding also recognizes the importance of regional projects, including rides for senior citizens, bus service and other critical transportation investments that Coloradans rely on to meet their daily needs, particularly in more rural areas of our state.

Proposition 110 also considered how to ensure the 40 million outofstate tourists help pay for our transportation system — which is why the coalition recognized a sales tax is a better source than other taxes (like income tax, property tax or even vehicle registrations, which are solely paid by us as residents).

In stark contrast is Proposition 109, a measure notable for its slogans but not its substance.

Proposition 109 lacks a funding stream to pay for nearly half of the bonds it would float.

As a matter of fact, $1.5 billion of the bonds that would be issued under Proposition 109 lack any guaranteed funding source. The legislature already has spent dollars this year to underwrite transportation bonds that advocates for 109 count in their proposal, leaving nearly half of the 109 proposal without a source of funds to repay their bonds. We’ve seen this approach before in our country and learned the hard way that taking out a mortgage without an income didn’t work in 2009 and it won’t work now.

And, like it or not, there will be another economic slowdown, and when it hits and state revenues drop, the legislature will have to cut other priorities to pay debt owed due to 109 — our schools, colleges, health care system, public safety and road and bridge maintenance.

And, if that isn’t enough, Proposition 109 doesn’t put a dollar to address the funding needs of almost 90 percent of the roads we drive on.

“Fix Our Damn Roads” would more accurately be called “a big damn mess.”

Call us crazy, but we think we should make decisions about our state based on facts and data — not slogans, fingerpointing or namecalling. We hope you will join our coalition of unaffiliated voters, Democrats and Republicans from rural, urban, mountain and suburban communities and back a real answer to our very real problems and actually improve our transportation system.

Vote “yes” on Proposition 110.