The Pine Brook Hills HOA Roads Committee asked the county commissioners to put 1A on the ballot to increase the mill levy by 0.785 mills for 15 years to help pay for subdivision road reconstruction. The county portion of the mill levy is currently 22.624 mills. For a home and land assessed at $400K, the property owner would pay an additional $25 if 1A passes.
This issue has a long history. When subdivision roads in unincorporated Boulder County were first built, the county promised to maintain the roads. In 1995 the commissioners revised their definition of road maintenance to exclude road reconstruction. In 2013 county commissioners placed 5C on the ballot to create a Public Improvement District to pay for unincorporated county subdivision road reconstruction, but voters in the proposed PID rejected it so, as promised, the county commissioners set up a subdivision paving Local Improvement District. The organization BoCo FIRM (Fairness in Road Maintenance) filed suit to stop the LID and was successful.
BoCo FIRM is in further litigation to force the county to pay for adequate road reconstruction in unincorporated Boulder County without raising taxes. BoCo FIRM has not been successful and is appealing the case to the CO Supreme Court. While BoCoFirm pursues the appeal, 1A is on the ballot for a county vote.
Colorado Revised Statutes (CRS) 43-2-202 (1)(a) requires counties to establish a Road and Bridge Fund consisting of property tax revenue, state and federal money and any other money for roads and bridges. Each municipality in the county is entitled to get back half of the property tax collected for the Road and Bridge Fund from the municipality. Meanwhile, counties are restricted from moving money from the general fund to the Road and Bridge Fund except for one-time projects or when the governor declares a state of emergency impacting roads.
Posted on the August 6th Daily Camera website, Boulder County Transportation Director George Gerstle said $16M was allocated in 2016 for maintenance and rehabilitation of county roads and bridges. The entire 2016 budgeted Road and Bridge Fund was $34.7M. Below is the breakdown:
$19.5M - Capital Equipment and Road Projects
$10.3M - Road Maintenance (includes snow removal and pothole repair)
$ 0.5M - Payments to Cities
$ 4.4M – Transportation Sales Tax passed in 2001, extended in 2007
The sales tax is focused mostly on transportation demand management projects and on road improvements to accommodate public transit and bike.
If successful, this mill levy is expected to result in $5.5M in increased revenue, a little more than 1% of the county’s $400M-plus budget. Approximately, $3.2M would go toward reconstruction of paved subdivision roads in unincorporated Boulder County with the remainder divided among municipalities. The county would continue to spend another $1M for reconstruction of “community use” roads to schools, churches, trailheads, etc and “routine maintenance” of subdivision roads.
Recommendation: leaning yes/for
I’m not a fan of dedicated taxes, but the Colorado Revised Statutes put the county in a bind if counties aren’t allowed to use general fund money for maintenance of roads and bridges. Property owners in the cities would contribute the biggest chunk of this tax but would receive little in return if state highways and “community use” roads are already kept in good shape with other funds.
When the transportation sales tax expires in 2024, the county should consider using one-time money for transit and bike-friendly projects instead of renewing the tax. Then if 1A passes this year, the county should consider asking to make this mill levy a permanent tax when it is due to expire. Maintenance of roads, including their reconstruction, should be in the regular budget and not have an expiration date.
Website for the Yes Side (Safer Roads Now)
http://saferroadsnow.com/
Website for the No Side –
No known website – Info on an opposition website appreciated.
http://www.bocofirm.org/index.html (BoCo FIRM)
Approved Ballot Language
COUNTY ISSUE 1A (Road and Bridge Mill Levy Increase):
Shall Boulder County taxes be increased $5.5 million annually (first full fiscal year dollar increase in 2017) through an increase in Boulder County’s ad valorem property tax mill levy of 0.785 mills, for fifteen years to and including December 31, 2031, for the purpose of funding road and bridge projects within the municipalities in Boulder County and rehabilitation of paved public local access subdivision roads in unincorporated Boulder County, such increase in property tax revenues to be in excess of that which would otherwise be permitted under Section 29-1-301, C.R.S., each year without such increase; and shall the revenues and earnings on the investment of the proceeds of such tax, regardless of amount, constitute a voter-approved revenue change and a property tax revenue change; all as more particularly set forth in Board of County Commissioners’ Resolution No. 2016-89?
YES/FOR _______
NO/AGAINST _________
Resolution No. 2016-89 with details for ballot issue 1A
http://www.bouldercounty.org/doc/bocc/2016-89_RoadBridge.pdf
This issue has a long history. When subdivision roads in unincorporated Boulder County were first built, the county promised to maintain the roads. In 1995 the commissioners revised their definition of road maintenance to exclude road reconstruction. In 2013 county commissioners placed 5C on the ballot to create a Public Improvement District to pay for unincorporated county subdivision road reconstruction, but voters in the proposed PID rejected it so, as promised, the county commissioners set up a subdivision paving Local Improvement District. The organization BoCo FIRM (Fairness in Road Maintenance) filed suit to stop the LID and was successful.
BoCo FIRM is in further litigation to force the county to pay for adequate road reconstruction in unincorporated Boulder County without raising taxes. BoCo FIRM has not been successful and is appealing the case to the CO Supreme Court. While BoCoFirm pursues the appeal, 1A is on the ballot for a county vote.
Colorado Revised Statutes (CRS) 43-2-202 (1)(a) requires counties to establish a Road and Bridge Fund consisting of property tax revenue, state and federal money and any other money for roads and bridges. Each municipality in the county is entitled to get back half of the property tax collected for the Road and Bridge Fund from the municipality. Meanwhile, counties are restricted from moving money from the general fund to the Road and Bridge Fund except for one-time projects or when the governor declares a state of emergency impacting roads.
Posted on the August 6th Daily Camera website, Boulder County Transportation Director George Gerstle said $16M was allocated in 2016 for maintenance and rehabilitation of county roads and bridges. The entire 2016 budgeted Road and Bridge Fund was $34.7M. Below is the breakdown:
$19.5M - Capital Equipment and Road Projects
$10.3M - Road Maintenance (includes snow removal and pothole repair)
$ 0.5M - Payments to Cities
$ 4.4M – Transportation Sales Tax passed in 2001, extended in 2007
The sales tax is focused mostly on transportation demand management projects and on road improvements to accommodate public transit and bike.
If successful, this mill levy is expected to result in $5.5M in increased revenue, a little more than 1% of the county’s $400M-plus budget. Approximately, $3.2M would go toward reconstruction of paved subdivision roads in unincorporated Boulder County with the remainder divided among municipalities. The county would continue to spend another $1M for reconstruction of “community use” roads to schools, churches, trailheads, etc and “routine maintenance” of subdivision roads.
Recommendation: leaning yes/for
I’m not a fan of dedicated taxes, but the Colorado Revised Statutes put the county in a bind if counties aren’t allowed to use general fund money for maintenance of roads and bridges. Property owners in the cities would contribute the biggest chunk of this tax but would receive little in return if state highways and “community use” roads are already kept in good shape with other funds.
When the transportation sales tax expires in 2024, the county should consider using one-time money for transit and bike-friendly projects instead of renewing the tax. Then if 1A passes this year, the county should consider asking to make this mill levy a permanent tax when it is due to expire. Maintenance of roads, including their reconstruction, should be in the regular budget and not have an expiration date.
Website for the Yes Side (Safer Roads Now)
http://saferroadsnow.com/
Website for the No Side –
No known website – Info on an opposition website appreciated.
http://www.bocofirm.org/index.html (BoCo FIRM)
Approved Ballot Language
COUNTY ISSUE 1A (Road and Bridge Mill Levy Increase):
Shall Boulder County taxes be increased $5.5 million annually (first full fiscal year dollar increase in 2017) through an increase in Boulder County’s ad valorem property tax mill levy of 0.785 mills, for fifteen years to and including December 31, 2031, for the purpose of funding road and bridge projects within the municipalities in Boulder County and rehabilitation of paved public local access subdivision roads in unincorporated Boulder County, such increase in property tax revenues to be in excess of that which would otherwise be permitted under Section 29-1-301, C.R.S., each year without such increase; and shall the revenues and earnings on the investment of the proceeds of such tax, regardless of amount, constitute a voter-approved revenue change and a property tax revenue change; all as more particularly set forth in Board of County Commissioners’ Resolution No. 2016-89?
YES/FOR _______
NO/AGAINST _________
Resolution No. 2016-89 with details for ballot issue 1A
http://www.bouldercounty.org/doc/bocc/2016-89_RoadBridge.pdf
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