RFTA likely to ask for tax increase

New sales tax levy would be sought from Garfield County, Silt, Rifle and Parachute

Scott Condon
Aspen Correspondent
April 11, 2008

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ASPEN — The Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA) likely will seek voter approval for a multimillion dollar sales tax increase in November to expand its bus service.

Members of RFTA’s board of directors indicated in a straw poll Thursday they want to pop a funding question to voters in the November general election.

The board deferred a decision on a specific ballot question until May. However, the board majority appeared to favor a proposal to seek a 0.3 percent sales tax increase from the towns and counties that already belong to RFTA and seek a 0.4 percent sales tax levy from areas that currently get service but aren’t regular financial contributors.

If the board settles on that formula, the towns of Aspen, Snowmass Village, Basalt,
Carbondale, Glenwood Springs and New Castle as well as Eagle County and Pitkin
County would increase their existing sales taxes dedicated to RFTA revenues by 0.3
percent.

A new 0.4 percent sales tax levy would be sought from Garfield County, Silt, Rifle and
Parachute — although those jurisdictions cannot be forced to place questions on the
November ballot.

That funding scenario could raise an additional $4.6 million annually from the
existing members of RFTA and $2.2 million annually from the potential new
members. The annual revenues would theoretically increase each year.

The ballot question would face political hurdles. Snowmass Village’s elected officials
are reluctant to send the resort town’s total sales tax above 10 percent, which the
RFTA proposal would do, said Arnold Mordkin, Snowmass councilman and RFTA
board member.

Getting voters in the western Garfield County towns to approve a tax to join RFTA
also would be a challenge, said RFTA Chief Executive Officer Dan Blankenship.
Nevertheless, he urged the board to place a question on the ballot.

“If we always waited for the perfect time to do things, we would never get anything
done,” Blankenship said. “I’m just saying let’s let the people decide.”

For the most part, board members didn’t need to be convinced.

“We absolutely have to do the election in ‘08,” said Jacque Whitsitt, a Basalt
councilwoman and RFTA board member. The timing is imperative, she said, because
RFTA is struggling to meet passenger demands.

A record 4.4 million passengers piled onto RFTA buses in 2007. The agency
provides service from Aspen to Rifle. Ridership is up this winter and is expected to
approach the 5 million mark this year. Buses often filled to capacity and passengers
had to stand at the most popular commuting times this winter.

RFTA has a plan to expand its existing service and create new service that would be
called Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), informally known as “RFTA on steroids.” It would
feature new park-and-rides paired with state-of-the-art bus stations as well as new
buses and additional personnel to operate a bigger bus agency. Extra service would
concentrate on non-stop trips between downvalley towns and the upper valley.
RFTA’s goal is to reduce its travel time to compete with private vehicles.

Preliminary estimates place the costs to create that system at between $171 million to $191 million. Annual operating costs would nearly double from the current $20 million per year.

The cost is flooring some elected officials in recent meetings between RFTA staff and
town councils.

“The two things we’ve heard are, ‘Wow, big cost,’ and ‘How are we going to do this?’”
said RFTA planner Kristin Kenyon.

RFTA hopes to score $75 million in federal grants and $25 million in state grants for
its expansion plan. Nevertheless, it will likely need to scale back the full BRT plan,
Blankenship and board members agreed.

If the agency approaches voters in November, it must settle on a funding proposal at its next meeting on May 8. “We’re really running under the gun here,” Kenyon said.