Extension of tax hike could be sought for transportation

A flurry of transportation work — numerous road construction and maintenance projects, a nine-month public transit study and a two-year process to set priorities that stretch to 2035 — is afoot in the Pikes Peak region.

But they all hinge on one scarcity: money.

State budget cuts and legislative changes mean the Pikes Peak region won’t receive about $1 billion in transportation funding it had expected over the next 25 years, according to Jason Wilkinson, spokesman for the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments.

Some transportation officials think the solution is in your wallet.

Local voters have been willing in the past to pay to fix and expand roads. The hope is that the electorate will come through again — and soon.

Capital construction funding that voters in unincorporated El Paso County, Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs and Green Mountain Falls approved in 2004 from  sales and use tax revenue doesn’t sunset until 2014. But the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority’s citizens’ advisory committee is examining options for bringing a reauthorization measure to the ballot in 2012, said chairman Tom Harold.

“The logic is, if it doesn’t pass next year, we can modify it and do it again in 2013,” he said.

Fifty-five percent of voters approved the tax hike in 2004. Of the 1-cent tax increase, 55 percent goes to designated capital projects, 35 percent is used for maintenance projects, and 10 percent is earmarked for metro transit improvements. The latter two continue in perpetuity.

Harold said voters were willing to designate local dollars for local road projects because there was broad community backing for the authority and because it pledged to take on a list of specific projects and keep overhead costs low.

Six years later, residents have seen results, and many call it a resounding success.

“We did what we promised, with no borrowing and no bonding, and every project has been on time and within or under budget. We’ve been good stewards of taxpayer dollars,” Harold said.

Through 2010, 24 projects have been completed at a total cost of $218 million, Wilkinson said. Among the notable improvements: the rebuilt Cimarron Street bridge, the massive Austin Bluffs Parkway and Union Boulevard interchange and a portion of the Woodmen Road/Academy Boulevard reconfiguration.

Another estimated $140 million will be spent through 2014 on capital projects, Wilkinson said.

The PPRTA now is the largest funding source for transportation in the region, said Craig Casper, transportation director for the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments. The association of 16 municipal and county governments is federally mandated to create a regional plan for transportation, to determine how federal, state and local funds should be spent.

The PPRTA setup proved to be an effective way to go, Casper said, as government funding keeps shrinking, at the same time the growing population is creating more need for new and improved roadways.

However, decreased sales tax revenue — which fell by nearly half for capital projects from 2008 to 2009 — has reduced the PPRTA-designated projects that will get finished by the time the funding ends, Wilkinson said.  

PPRTA officials want to re-prioritize what won’t get finished and add new projects to present to voters, he said.

“It’s not that the list was too pie-in-the-sky to begin with, but that external factors like the recession proved to be a hiccup,” Wilkinson said.

Voters most likely also will be asked to consider funding an improved public transit system in the near future.  

A group of nearly 30 people is examining alternative funding and a different model of operation and will update Colorado Springs City Council at today’s informal meeting.

City budget woes led to public transit funding cuts, which resulted in slashed routes and hours of service.   

The study group, called The Future of Regional Transit, is considering proposing several options to city officials, including a property tax increase and a new vehicle registration fee.

“There are a lot of competing interests,” City Councilwoman Jan Martin noted at the January meeting, in terms of asking voters to supply money.  

“I don’t see that we have any choice,” replied Manitou Springs Mayor Marc Snyder and chairman of the group.

Meanwhile, more than 50 people involved in transportation are updating a long-range regional transportation plan, which the Federal Highway Administration requires be done every four years under the auspices of the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments.

Because of limited dollars, “all we can fund are the critical ones right now,” Casper said.

“We’re taking projects from the last plan and getting rid of the ones that are less needed.”   

The immediate priorities are a North Nevada Avenue bridge, the Powers interchange into Peterson Air Force Base and a new exit at Cimarron Street and I-25.  

“The money just isn’t around,” Casper said.

PPRTA tax revenue spent on capital projects

2005: $4.6 million
2006: $20.2 million
2007: $36.9 million
2008: $52.5 million
2009: $25.6 million
2010: $78.2 million
Total through 2010: $218 million

Estimated PPRTA capital project spending
2011: $34.7 million
2012: $35.8 million
2013: $36.9 million
2014: $33.5 million