I will be outspoken and critical of this piece of legislation – Senate Bill 24-184 is yet another scheme cooked up by Colorado democrats to arm sweep money from the states poorly funded system of roadways to build the Guv a choo-choo. Pardon my cynicism.
The funny thing about trains – when surveyed, people love the idea. Legislative proponents will tell you about it. We feel so much more cosmopolitan when our state has a train. We feel so good about it when we drive by the train in our cars on the way to wherever we’re going. The train is for them. The guv wants to turn Colorado drivers into strap hangers. The problem is, in the eyes of many Coloradans, the train is for “them.” Not us.
Anyway, back to the bill. Here’s a good article and a synopsis in the following paragraph.
A new proposal from leading Democrats in Colorado could add extra costs, up to $3 per day, to rental cars in the state. The additional fees, estimated to generate around $50 million annually, aim to fund the state’s growing list of transit and bus projects. The plan involves using the money as a downpayment to secure more federal funding from the recent bipartisan Infrastructure package. Critics argue that the bill is another attempt to raise revenue without voter approval and see the transit effort as wasteful. However, supporters believe it’s a unique chance to leverage the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s funds and make these large-scale, visionary projects a reality.
The dems love ’em a good fee. Fees don’t have to stand the muster of TABOR. The legislation I’ll stand against arm sweeps HPTE – the High performance transportation enterprise – and it’s management arm – the CTIO – Colorado Transit Investment Office. Simplified – the new lanes many northern Coloradans enjoy on I-25 are being financed through the HPTE/CTIO. The tolls produce the revenue against which the state bonds so we can build the lanes.
I-25 Segments 6-8 – basically Berthoud to Fort Collins – have recently been completed. I fought hard and helped land the funding for Segment 5 – Highway 66 to Berthoud. That construction will begin soon and last what seems like forever, but is actually just a couple of years. All the work performed and detailed at this link is made possible due to the HPTE/CTIO and contributions from a lot of local municipalities and the business sector, too.
But the Guv wants a choo-choo and the cost is astronomical. So the state legislature is set to refocus the goals of the HPTE/CTIO. “Travel shed” will be the new buzz word. Meaning, we’ll arm sweep monies generated from motorists and use them plus new fees plus the new tax that will be imposed by the Front Range Passenger Rail District (more on this rail fantasy to come) to build the guv a choo choo. And because all the money will be going to fund the choo choo, there will be even less money available for that which is most critically needed – capacity expansion and maintenance on our roadways.
Meh. The train will make us feel better, right? Let’s keep an eye on this.
