November 22, 2010 09:25 PM UTC

UPDATED: You be the RTD Board

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• by: redstateblues

(From the earliest days of this state, major decisions on transportation infrastructure have driven land-use decisions and ultimately economic development.  Polster Redstateblues now asks us to play the role of the RTD board and ponder how to rescue the Fastracks plan from the economic doldrums. – promoted by Voyageur)

Wednesday Update: Kevin Flynn from RTD e-mailed me this morning about this diary. He wanted to point out, just like a few of the comments below, that this is not new money, and that it cannot be used for operating expenses (or to help shoulder the cost of fare prices.) It must be used to fund one or some of the unfunded FasTracks projects. Another important bit of information that he added was that in 2009 RTD was given full authority by the legislature to gather petitions to pose tax increase questions to the voters in the form of a ballot initiative. His e-mail follows, along with the original diary below the fold.

I appreciate the coverage in your post from Monday, “You Be The RTD Board,” but I’d also like to clarify some of the information in it. Foremost, the figure of $305 million is not a budget surplus, but rather a reduction in one project in the FasTracks program that allows for that amount to be reallocated elsewhere within the FasTracks program. It is not “new money” or extra money, as some have been reporting.  In August the winning bidder on the Eagle Project (combining the FasTracks rail lines to DIA, to Arvada-Wheat Ridge and to Westminster) came in $305 million below our budget estimate, which simply means that we can now re-allocate that amount to the partially funded FasTracks corridors. This is the decision on which RTD is now seeking stakeholder input.  Please note that FasTracks revenues cannot be reallocated to other areas such as RTD operations, they must remain within the FasTracks program..

Secondly, RTD has stated very publicly since 2007 that FasTracks needs additional funding to be completed by the original schedule.. We have been pursuing other funding since then, including the successful public-private partnership agreement on the Eagle project that brought the $305 million in deficit reduction, and will continue to do so prior to – and even after – reaching a decision on whether to ask voters for additional tax revenue.

RTD does a complete budget re-evaluation on the entire FasTracks program every year. The 2010 evaluation released last January showed a projected capital funding shortfall of approximately $2.5 billion through 2019, the currently assumed completion year.  But with this shortfall, we know we cannot complete the program in 2019 as currently assumed without new revenues. With only currently identified resources and no increase in sales taxes, revenues won’t provide for full program completion until 2042. RTD ran the financial model looking at varying levels of new sales tax.  With a one-tenth of a percent sales tax beginning in January 2012, the additional funding would result in a projected full program completion in 2035 – seven years earlier. An increase of two-tenths yields a completion year of 2027; three-tenths brings completion in 2022; four-tenths permits completion in 2018.

Finally, you stated that it is unlikely for the legislature to refer an RTD sales tax increase to metro area voters. While it used to be the case that RTD could not directly place tax referendums on the ballot, relying instead on the General Assembly to authorize it as it did in 2002 (which allowed the 2004 vote), that is no longer the case. The legislature amended RTD’s enabling statute in 2009, giving the RTD Board of Directors the authority to place tax increases on the ballot at its own discretion.

Please continue to cover this issue and feel invited to contact me for information as needed. As we all know, matters of long-term finance can be complicated and we would welcome the opportunity to clarify or provide details as these matters arise.

Thank you,

Kevin Flynn | Public Information Manager

Recently the Regional Transportation District announced that they are projecting a more than $300 million budget surplus in savings on transportation projects. Among the plans for the money are to fully fund the Gold Line–the light rail line that would run through Aurora from the Tech Center up through Fitzimmons, and up to DIA.

What do you think they should do with the surplus money?

More after the jump

Another development from the last board of directors meeting was the revelation–less surprising to those with knowledge of the project–that FasTracks won’t be completed for decades unless the voters approve another sales tax increase. RTD has a plan that calls for anywhere from a .1% to a .4% sales tax increase, a plan which could double the current FasTracks tax that was approved by voters in 2004.

Given the current appetite for tax increases among the  Republican majority in our newly elected State House of Representatives, the likelihood of such a plan being referred to the voters by the state legislature is somewhere between an ice cube’s chance in the Mojave and a Dan Maes presidential bid.

But all things being equal, what’s your plan for rescuing these badly needed transportation projects? Will the voters approve a tax increase if it appears on the ballot in the near future? Will the economy turn around in enough time to make a tax increase unnecessary? Does the state even need more rail, or is an increase in mass transit bus service the answer?