Ritter says transportation will be top priority in 2009
As he sorts out his priorities for the 2009 legislative session beginning in January, Gov. Bill Ritter is banging the drum for making the state's transportation issues Job One.
"Transportation is fundamental to economic development," Ritter said Monday at a meeting of the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce. "When we're talking about companies coming here or even companies growing, the conversation comes back to two things: education and transportation."
Having devoted much of his attention in 2008 to shepherding major funding initiatives for K-12 and higher education, Ritter is now targeting transportation.
The governor said there are 126 "structurally deficient" bridges in the state, up by 10 from 2007, and that "over 20 percent of our roads need to be completely reconstructed."
He added that a combination of rising construction costs and the revenue and spending restrictions imposed by the Taxpayers Bill of Rights mean the state's "construction buying power is 40 percent of what it was in 1992," the year TABOR went into effect.
Taken together, he said, the situation amounts to the "quiet crisis" described in January by a panel of experts appointed by Ritter to examine the state of Colorado's transportation.
"We do have to think differently about transportation funding," Ritter said. "Problem is, if you ask Coloradans, they don't think we have a problem, or a very serious problem."
Ritter will present his 2009 budget proposal on Nov. 3. Meantime, his blue-ribbon panel will be touring the state seeking citizen input.
"The people of this state are waiting for us to articulate what the crisis is," Ritter said.
Appearing with Ritter was Russ George, executive director of the Colorado Department of Transportation, who said a projected $950 million state transportation budget in 2009 would be inadequate to undertake any new projects. He said the Legislature could increase fees, go to the taxpayers for the authority to increase taxes, or put new projects - a Front Range commuter rail system was one example mentioned by Ritter - on hold.
"The hard part of the question is about to be asked," George said, acknowledging that "to talk about raising fees and taxes in this economic climate is tough."
Amendment 52, an initiative on the November ballot, would increase funding for transportation projects.
Heightening the competition for a share of the budget pie, Ritter said, will be a continuing decline in funding from the federal government.
The blue-ribbon panel's schedule of hearings includes one Thursday at 2 p.m. at the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments, 15 S. Seventh St.
