Colorado elections in Denver, El Paso County to include transportation questions

Colorado elections in two locales soon will determine whether transportation work receives funding.

The Nov. 2 ballot in the city of Denver will include a question for transportation and mobility system bonds.

Question 2C will ask voters whether to tap bonds for $63.3 million in transportation work. Specifically, money would be used for road reconstruction, pedestrian projects, and other “transportation safety improvements.”

Ballots are expected to be mailed on Oct. 8. The state has all-mail voting.

Return to the same well?

Four years ago, Denver voters approved the use of general obligation bonds to aid transportation work.

Passage authorized the city to issue $937 million in bonds for more than 460 projects. The borrowing covered $431 million for transportation and mobility systems.

The vote dedicated $101 million to deferred maintenance citywide, including repaving, and major bridge rehabilitation. Another $55 million was designated for bus rapid transit, $30 million for sidewalk construction, and $18 million for bike lanes.

Other projects include improvements to the public safety system, library system, parks and recreation system, and public facilities system.

El Paso County

Voters in El Paso County will separately decide on about $15 million in surplus revenues from Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights revenue funds largely for transportation work.

Colorado law now caps revenue under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. In place since 1992, TABOR requires voter approval for all new taxes, tax rate increases, or tax policy changes that result in increased tax revenue.

If approved, Question 1A would devote about $13 million to local road projects. The ballot question identifies 17 roadway improvement projects throughout the county located east of Colorado Springs.

The remaining amount would be used for other work that includes parks and trails.

The county attributes the surplus revenues from increased sales tax collections. Additionally, economic stimulus funds allocated to the county during the pandemic and highway user taxes are among the sources of additional revenue.

If the question fails, property owners would get a rebate from TABOR surplus revenues on their property taxes.

County voters recently supported similar allotment

In 2017, county voters approved $14.5 million in TABOR surplus revenues for transportation work.

At the time, the county reported a $200 million backlog of road and bridge projects.

About $6 million was earmarked to widen Interstate 25 from Monument to Castle Rock. The rest was designated for local road projects, disaster recovery projects, and other work that includes parks and trails. LL

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