In Colorado this November, voters are faced with two competing ballot propositions. Both aim to address transportation needs in the state, albeit in very different ways.
Proposition 109 would give the state the authority to raise $3.5 billion in bonds to fund bridge repairs and expansions, build new roads, repair existing roads and perform other needed transportation-focused maintenance in the state.
Proposition 110 would enable to state to raise $6 billion in bonds for transportation projects. It would also establish the Transportation Revenue Anticipation Notes Citizen Oversight Committee to facilitate the financing and execution of those projects.
The difference between the two is that Proposition 109 requires that the work be done without raising taxes. For the programs it recommends, Proposition 110 would raise the sales tax in the state for 20 years to 3.52 cents on the dollar, up from the current rate of 2.9 cents. That's an increase of more than 21 percent.
This key difference has caught the attention of likely voters.
"Voters are more likely to support and approve Proposition 109, (52 percent approve/23 percent reject/25 percent undecided) than Proposition 110 (35 percent approve/34 percent oppose/31 percent undecided)," Magellan Strategies said after releasing the results of a voter opinion purvey in conducted.
The authors of the survey were reluctant to declare that Proposition 109 would prevail on election night, primarily due to the large percentage of undecided voters: "...with 25 percent of voters being undecided on Proposition 109 and 31 percent undecided on Proposition 110, it is premature to say either one will be approved, or rejected, by voters."
While most Coloradans agree that transportation infrastructure improvements are necessary, voters and interest groups don't agree on the best way to achieve this.
The city of Colorado Springs, the Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Independence Institute are all backing Proposition 109, while Proposition 110 has the support of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, the Colorado Transportation Commission and the Colorado Municipal League.
"Proposition 109 directs the state legislature to use $260 million per year from state revenues to bond $3.5 billion in state highway construction without raising taxes," Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers, a proponent of Proposition 109, said. "Mayor and council believe Proposition 109 is better than 110 because it gets significant state highway construction without a tax increase and allows Colorado Springs to continue to invest heavily in local roadway infrastructure."
If Proposition 110 passes and increases the overall sales tax in Colorado Springs to 8.87 percent, including the local sales tax, the city probably will not renew a local ballot issue that raises $50 million a year for local road construction, Suthers said. That means Colorado Springs would exchange $50 million in funding for the $18 million to $20 million the city would receive annually from Proposition 110, he added.
Kevin Bommer, deputy director of the Colorado Municipal League, pointed to a CNL news release that shared a hesitancy the league had around raising taxes, but said that doing so supports a more sustainable, long-term solution to the transportation needs of the state.
"For the past three decades, the 0.22 cent gas tax has remained flat while the rate of inflation and construction costs have continued to increase," CML Executive Board Member Kendra Black said. "The result is that the state and local governments are receiving only half the transportation dollars they once did. This is simply unsustainable."
While there is a chance that neither proposition will pass, there also is the potential that they both will. In this scenario, state law mandates that the proposition with the most votes will supercede the other.