Posted on 11/05/2019 8:18:38 AM PST by george76
Taxpayer watchdog group: Emails show sales tax revenue going toward projects that are ‘not what most voters have in mind’..[ full title]
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A Colorado Springs tax watchdog group obtained communications between city employees that show discussion of using sales tax revenue for traffic reduction and bike lane infrastructure while other city officials have denied that’s where funds would be directed.
City voters approved a road improvement ballot measure called 2C in 2015, which is up for renewal in the Nov. 5 election. 2C is a 0.62 percent sales tax increase that is supposed to be dedicated to road maintenance and improvements. SpringsTaxpayers.com obtained communications in a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request that show city officials discussing using 2C funds for “road dieting” in 2020. Other communications indicate that the Colorado Springs Traffic Planning Department plan use funding for “transportation capacity reduction,” in correspondences with the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority (PPRTA), which manages transportation in the region.
Road dieting is the practice of reducing lanes in an attempt to reduce traffic and dissuade people from driving in favor of other commuting methods like biking and public transportation.
“The City administration has previously communicated to the public that 2C money is not going to fund bike lane infrastructure via road-dieting,” Laura Carno of SpringsTaxpayers.com said in a statement. “We have found through CORA requests that City officials are referring to some bike lane projects as being a part of the 2C project list.”
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53 percent of revenue from 2C went to paving roads, while 47 percent went to “other improvements.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thecentersquare.com ...
I ride on dedicated, those not adjacent to traffic, paved paths. I like them but would choose maintenance of existing roads over new paths.
Colorado taxes gas, license plates, and car sales. They claim to build roads, but then the stupid liberals spend it all on everything but roads. Worse, the money they do spend on roads is now going to create toll roads to tax drivers even more for all the other crap.
Jeeze, where are you? It sounds like there are still people on your city council that have some common sense!
This is so true! It’s easy to see what the latest “idea” is b/c every city/ town planner is pushing the same agenda. A big one here in Colorado is “affordable housing”. They are trying to ram this down our throats all over the state.
Near Los Angeles...
Not much, but a little common sense...
These asshats are ALL screaming for affordable housing YET the regulations, and permit process they put on the developers cause the cost of housing to skyrocket they CREATE the cost then scream because the cost is so high!!!
Not from anything I've heard about her.
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