DENVER–A Democrat-sponsored Senate bill changing the boundaries of the Front Range Passenger Rail special taxing district passed through its first committee hearing on Monday. The bill excludes certain conservative-leaning communities from the district as a tax hike looms for the November ballot.

As previously reported by Complete Colorado, the Front Range Passenger Rail, recently named CoCo, short for Colorado Connector, has been in the works since 2021. The plan is to have an up and running passenger rail system operating from Fort Collins to Pueblo by 2029.

The current special taxing district is the largest in the state, comprised of 13 counties along the I-25 corridor. All of which are highly likely to be asked for 0.5% sales tax hike this November to fund the project.

Senate Bill 26-172 dramatically changes these boundaries, dropping about 40% of the existing special district population. Rather than incorporating every county along I-25 between Wyoming and New Mexico, the proposed legislation includes taxing sweet spots along the rail line.

“Of the scenarios that we explored, [this] has some of the highest, but not the highest, tax base, to be able to pay for what we’re proposing to pay for while keeping the tax rate relatively low,” Sal Pace, general manager of the taxing district, said to lawmakers.

The new district would include 30 municipalities and would allow others to opt in upon voter approval. The bill also allows incorporated areas to create subdistricts to ask residents to further increase taxes as they see fit.

Conservative communities excluded

While sponsors claim the redrawing was centered around areas in which 20% or more of the population live within a five-mile radius of the planned stations, the bill notably cuts out more conservative communities including Greeley, Lonetree, Monument, and Castle Rock.

“The railroad only has so many options as to where it can go south of the city, if that’s the case, why are you including Sterling Ranch and tiny places and not including large areas that’ll be served like Castle Rock and Lone Tree,” Joshua Sharf, senior fellow in fiscal policy with Independence Institute* told Complete Colorado. “If you’re going through the trouble of naming specific municipalities why are you leaving out large population centers?”

SB-172 was approved by the Senate Transportation and Energy Committee on April 27. Three amendments were made to the bill, including the removal of Northglenn from the taxing district after Democrat Sen. Kyle Mullica requested the removal on behalf of the Northglenn city government.

Randal O’Toole, director of transportation policy at Independence Institute, predicts this rail line, like many others, will end up needing yet more money while pushing its completion date.

“Front Range Rail is not going to relieve traffic congestion. It is not going to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is going to be a huge money sink, costing a lot more than projected, and it probably won’t operate until long after projected,” O’Toole told Complete Colorado, “Almost no rail passenger project in the last 60 years was done on time or under the originally projected cost; cost overruns of 50 to 100 percent are typical.”

The bill was approved 8-1 with GOP Sen. Mark Baisley being the sole no vote. It will now go to the Senate Appropriations Committee in the coming weeks.

* Independence Institute is publisher of Complete Colorado