On Tuesday, Longmont City Council voted to support the Regional Transportation District, or RTD, as it asks voters to extend its TABOR exemption in perpetuity.
Erik Davidson, chair of the RTD board and District I representative, spoke to the city council in a personal capacity on Tuesday to advocate for support on an upcoming debrucing measure that will appear on the November ballot. District I represents Longmont, Broomfield, Lafayette, Erie and a small portion of Thorton.
RTD is funded by a 1% sales and use tax that is broken into two parts. The first part consists of a 0.6% base tax, the other is a 0.4% tax that was added in 2004 to complete the FasTrax project. Additionally, in 1999, voters exempted RTD from TABOR for the 0.6% base tax that was intended to last through the repayment of bonds for the lite rail lines in Denver. According to Davidson, those repayments are happening in November, ending the TABOR exemption.
RTD has spent the past few years stabilizing its budget, however, between 60-70% of its budget is dependent on the 0.6% sales and use tax it receives. If RTD were subject to the TABOR laws for this revenue, in a good year the revenue returned to taxpayers could total $50-60 million dollars which would roughly equate to $20-30 per taxpayer, Davidson said.
“We found ourselves in a position where we face a substantial financial risk of $50-60 million in a bad year and not really knowing how to logistically refund a sales and use tax based on property values,” Davidson said.
According to Davidson, the calculation and administration of a potential refund would require many hours of staff time to figure out. In the past, RTD has issued such a refund to Xcel Energy customers that Davidson said “didn’t go well for either side.”
Davidson also said that by RTD’s calculations most years it would not issue a refund.
RTD has focused efforts on stabilizing its finances by shoring up its pension program to full funding and its debt services. It has reached a point in reducing its debt that it has been able to increase its bond rating. This year RTD also cut fairs for the first time in its history despite a workforce shortage without raising taxes.
Mayor Joan Peck, who is a known transportation advocate, asked what would RTD do for Longmont. She advocated that the LX1 bus line be restored in Longmont, a line that’s restoration has been promised but postponed several times, Peck said.
Peck also asked that the dollars contributed to the FasTrax account be used the NW Corridor to bring lite rail to long, a promise that taxpayers have been paying for for 20 years.
Councilmember Diane Crist, Ward I representative, said she would like to see the east side of Longmont with better transportation services, especially for the areas on the eastern side and below Co 119.
“As love of RTD and FasTrax grows, I want our services restored with some of the funds (the TABOR exemption would bring),” Peck said. “We know where you can spend that money.”
The measure to support RTD passed six to one with Crist in opposition.
“I am voting for this because it is completely unsustainable to try to administer and send back checks based on sales and use tax as compared to property values but I do so with a great deal of angst. To just support it is a little foolhardy but it is also foolhardy to oppose it,” Councilmember Aren Rodriguez said.
