Dems tout higher registration fees as fast track to safer roads
DENVER • Formally introducing a centerpiece of their 2009 agenda, Democratic lawmakers Friday unveiled a supplemental transportation bill that its Senate sponsor said would create 10,000 jobs by June while addressing road safety, including repairing 126 bridges in poor condition.
Dubbed FASTER, or Funding Advancement for Surface Transportation and Economy Recovery, the bill would raise $214 million in its first year from road and bridge "safety surcharges" on every vehicle registered in Colorado, ranging from $29 for motorcycles to $71 for vehicles over 16,000 pounds. Owners of most cars and light trucks would pay $31 per vehicle. Additional revenues would come from doubling fees for permits for oversize vehicles, increasing fines for unregistered vehicles and a new $2-per-day fee on rental cars.
In later years, the typical surcharge would rise to $41 and the total revenue to $265 million. The bill devotes 60 percent of the fund to state transportation infrastructure, 30 percent to city and county road-and-bridge projects, and 10 percent to mass transit projects.
"If we can create jobs while creating a safer environment for everyone in the state of Colorado," Sen. Dan Gibbs said, "then let's do it."
The bill does not specify which bridges would be first in line for repair. But six of the bridges judged deficient by the state Department of Transportation are in El Paso County, and two more are in Teller.
Tim Harris, a spokesman for CDOT's Region 2, which includes the Pikes Peak region, said he expected that repairs on the eight bridges - three on Interstate 25 in El Paso County, three on U.S. Highway 24 in El Paso, one on U.S. 24 in Teller County and one on State Highway 67 in Teller - would be "accelerated" if the proposed legislation is passed.
The bill would also create a commission to study mileage-based alternatives to state registration fees and gasoline taxes. The idea would be to replace the 22-cents-a-gallon state gas tax with a fee based on miles driven, measured, perhaps, by something as simple as an annual odometer reading. The problem with such a scheme is that it would not capture miles driven on Colorado roads by out-of-state vehicles, and would not discount miles driven out of state by Colorado-registered vehicles. Vehicle-mounted tracking devices would solve the problem, but at considerable expense.
Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, who is sponsoring the bill with Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton, described the bill as "a work in progress" and said he welcomed Republican input. But it has no Republican cosponsors.
Republicans have argued that fee increases should not be the sole source of new transportation funding, and that some of the money should come from cuts to other state programs. Democrats want to avoid cutting other programs, especially with the state facing a budget shortfall of at least $631 million in the current fiscal year.
Gibbs repeatedly emphasized that FASTER would put more Coloradans to work. "This is really our first major economic development package of the legislative session," he said.
Contact the writer: 476-1654 or dean.toda@gazette.com
