Supporting infrastructure investment

Editor:

These days there is a growing disconnect between the services the public expects governments to provide and the tax dollars they are willing to pay to get those services. Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights requires that new taxes be approved by voters. An obvious challenge is that it relies on voters to understand the complexities and realities that come with governing. It expects them to be able to look beyond their personal needs and be willing to contribute enough tax revenue to enable the government to do its work and to keep our society running reasonably well. Unfortunately, today many voters lack that understanding. It is likely they understand that costs are rising for their household but somehow have trouble imagining that the cost of doing business is also rising for their government. The many roles that federal and state government carry out can make it challenging to understand it all. That job becomes easier when it comes to city and county government. They have basic responsibilities that, whether we notice it or not, we all benefit from every day. They keep the lights on, the water clean and running, the trash picked up, the schools operating, public safety protected and keep our roads managed and maintained. An easy thing for voters and even elected officials to overlook is the need to maintain and periodically replace critical infrastructure. It is a comforting illusion to see that things are working now and imagine they will continue to work in the future without us bothering to maintain them. That is not reality. The County Road and Bridge Department has a big job maintaining over 400 miles of road. Many of us use these roads almost every day to get to work, get kids to school, move cows, get mail and packages and get out for recreation activities. They allow visitors to enjoy our valley to fuel our tourism economy and enable access for emergency vehicles. They must be plowed in the winter, graded in the summer, cleared of landslides and washouts, periodically repaved, chip and sealed, graveled and painted. If they are not maintained it threatens our safety, slows our journeys and takes a toll on our vehicles. The County does not have a good way to fund this maintenance of critical infrastructure. We get some funding from federal highway funds, but the law prevents us from using any money from the current sources that fund most of the County’s operations. Highway funding is insufficient to do the job. Recent engineering evaluations show we need an additional $38 million to bring our roads up to a good condition. November’s ballot includes Question 1A asking voters to approve a 0.5% increase in sales tax to create dedicated funding used exclusively for road and bridge maintenance. This funding boost allows us to tackle that maintenance backlog over the next 20 years. One of the big advantages of this funding strategy is that all the visitors that buy something in the valley will be helping us fund this important road maintenance task. The high cost of living these days makes it a challenge for most folks to make ends meet. Priorities must be set and choices must be made. I think keeping our road infrastructure maintained needs to be one of our priorities. The longer we wait the more expensive it will be to accomplish this critical work. I will be supporting Question 1A this fall. I hope you will too.