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Boulder County looks at future of transportation sales tax

Community input sought on funding priorities
RTD Bus (1 of 1)
An RTD bus in Longmont

Boulder County wants to know what the public’s priorities are for future transportation funding.

The county has a 0.1% sales tax — equal to one-tenth of a penny per dollar — that goes toward transportation. That tax, which was passed in 2001, expires June 2024.

County commissioners will be deciding later this summer whether to ask voters to extend that sales tax for another 15 years. On Tuesday, the county hosted a virtual public meeting to get input on what Boulder County wants for the future of multimodal transportation.

Transportation Planning Deputy Director Kathleen Bracke explained that the sales tax makes up nearly a quarter of the county’s overall transportation funding. In the past 20 years, the transportation sales tax has financed or supported the paving of 97 road shoulders, 13 intersection safety improvements, 23 miles of new regional trails, nine transit routes and six new pedestrian underpasses.

The county is looking to see if there is support to help fund these transportation goals and what residents want to see that money spent on.

Currently, about 60% of the transportation sales tax goes to road projects, 15% to regional trails and bikeways, 15% to transit and 10% to regional corridors. The proposed spending split for the sales tax if renewed would include 5% for mobility and access programs, reducing road project spending to 55% of the total revenue.

Additionally, Bracke said state and federal dollars have recently opened up that could leverage those dollars much further — but that money typically requires a matching local contribution to leverage the grant.

“For the first time in a long time there are additional funds available,” she said.

Bracke explained that if the county does not put the measure on the ballot or if it does not pass, Boulder County could lose a lot of opportunities without the funds to match. She added that the county would likely have to pull back on new projects and stick to maintaining the existing system if the sales tax were to end.

The county was contemplating a question to increase the transportation sales tax to help fund more ambitious transportation projects, but the polling of Boulder County voters conducted this spring showed that they were against a tax increase. However, most did support a continuation of the current rate. That poll should be presented to the county commissioners in more detail next week.

The county commissioners are expected to have a hearing in July on the ballot measure and, if it moves forward, adopt a ballot certification resolution in August for the November election. The county is currently accepting public comments on this topic at boco.org/transportationsalestax.