DENVER – Colorado voters are one step closer to ensuring revenue intended for building and maintaining Colorado’s highways actually goes to fixing the roads. A proposed ballot measure seeks to reinstate a prior funding mechanism, repealed by the legislature decades ago after the lawmaker it was named for retired. This time, however, the method would be enshrined in the state’s constitution, if passed.
The secretary of state’s office has okayed Initiative 175 for signature gathering, and if it makes it onto the November ballot, Colorado’s roads and highways may finally begin to see the much-needed repairs that, according to critics, have been pushed aside to satisfy progressive leaders’ desire for things such as mass transit.
Proponents have an uphill battle, though, as amending the Colorado Constitution requires signatures from at least 2 percent of the total registered voters in each of the 35 Colorado state senate districts. The measure must also pass by a super-majority 55 percent.
The Noble Bill
Wade Haerle, Executive Director of Club 20, said the Western Slope advocacy organization has made passing Initiative 175 its number one priority this year
“I’ve talked with different transportation commissioners, and they all say that, basically, the nicest thing you can say about Colorado roads is we’re a D+ student.” Haerle said. “It’s going to take $1.5 billion dollars in additional dollars a year for multiple years to get us back to being a B+ student – at best.”
Club 20 represents the interests of 22 counties across western Colorado. Founded in 1953, its mission is to act as a voice to influence policy, promote economic development, and address regional issues like water, energy, and transportation.
Haerle was friends with the late Sen. Dan Noble during his time in the legislature and knows first-hand how important transportation funding was to Noble.
In 1979, Noble had an idea to make financing the repairs of Colorado’s highways as simple as possible. Noble believed that sales taxes paid for automotive purchases such as vehicles, fuel, tires, brakes, batteries, headlamps, etc. should go into a separate pot of money, known as the Highway Users Trust Fund, to pay for road maintenance across the state.
The math was simple. The largest share (60 percent) would go to the state and the rest would be divided out to cities (18 percent) and counties (22 percent). His legislation, dubbbed the “Noble Bill” passed, and for a decade worked as designed and helped keep Colorado roads well maintained.
However, soon after Noble left the legislature, lawmakers repealed the bill, diverting millions of highway dollars into the general fund for other uses.
“Dan retires from the legislature, and they immediately pulled back the Noble funds, all of them,” said Haerle, “So from then on, the number one transportation priority of Club 20 was to reinstate the Noble dollars.”
Many ideas to improve the situation have come and gone over the years, but none of them stuck, and today, Colorado roads remain some of the worst in the nation.
Creating a ‘lockbox’
However, 175 could change all that, writing the funding mechanism into the state Constitution and creating what some call a legal “lockbox” for vehicle-related revenue.
According to Haerle, it would put more than $1 billion a year back into highway and road maintenance. He added that any municipality or county that wants to know how much they stand to gain if 175 passes, all they need to do is double what they currently get.
The amendment would mandate that 100 percent of all taxes and fees collected on vehicle sales and fuel, and 2/3 of all sales taxes collected on car parts and accessories will be dedicated exclusively to:
- Building, repairing, and maintaining roads and bridges.
- Enhancing driver safety measures.
- Funding the Colorado State Patrol.
Haerle said Noble always believed that the people who purchase vehicles and pay the costs that come with vehicle ownership should be the ones who pay to construct and maintain the roads they drive on.
He also said that those who worry about cuts made to other areas because of a decrease in general fund money need to remember that money shouldn’t even be there in the first place.
“Not my problem. Not my issue.” Haerle said. “They have not been prioritizing roads. And as a matter of fact, what has been cut, every time things get tight, what has been cut? Roads. I hate to be so indifferent, but not my problem. It’s been a game in Colorado. I’ve watched this for years. It’s a TABOR (Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights) game. If you cut transportation and let things get so bad, people will vote for more taxes. It’s the same game, over and over.”
