RAILYARN: Can Aurora keep RTD light rail on track?

AURORA | Political pundits and transportation officials say it may be difficult to get Aurora voters on board with a plan that would see them loaning money to the Regional Transportation District for the completion of the I-225 light rail line.

At an Aurora City Council meeting May 21, Hogan asked council members to consider putting a question on the ballot in 2013 that would ask voters for a tax increase to generate money to loan to the Regional Transportation District for the completion of the I-225 FasTracks project.

Voters need to be guaranteed that the project will be completed on time, on budget, and that RTD will repay the loan over a period of time, said Floyd Ciruli, political analyst and Denver pollster.

That might be hard, since Aurora voters and others in the Denver metro area already approved a $4.7 billion plan to fund FasTracks’ completion in 2004 under the notion that it would be complete by 2017. The economic downturn and RTD’s inaccurate revenue projections have led RTD officials over the past couple of years to consider asking for another sales tax increase of 0.4 percent.

If city officials can run a campaign on the assurances that voters will get their money’s worth, there is a good chance they’ll support it.

“One of the problems with RTD is that its projections of revenue or expenses has not been good and has raised a lot of skepticism,” Ciruli said. “But if people were confident that indeed they would get this, I think this might be a potential solution.”

He said Hogan’s idea falls in line with the city’s recent efforts to spearhead economic development.

“My sense is that Aurora and certainly its leadership are anxious to get some things done,” Ciruli said.

Next year is as good a year as any to put this type of question on the ballot, he said.

“The general rule of these projects is that there is never a perfect time,” Ciruli said.

Either the economy is too sluggish or there are competing ballot questions that take attention away from the transportation question, he said.

“Ultimately when a project is this big and takes a long time to get done, you sort of just have to set a date and push forward,” he said.

Aurora City Council members haven’t had any formal discussion on the proposal yet, but Hogan said the time to act is now. RTD board members have said they won’t go forward with a regional ballot item this year and would probably not ask voters to approve a tax hike in an odd-year election like 2013.

And Hogan said he doubts that Gov. John Hickenlooper would agree to having a tax increase item on the ballot when he’s running for re-election in 2014.

“Aurora has to start taking care of itself,” he said. “We can’t continue to rely on others to do it for us or we will wait forever.”

He thinks there’s a good chance that voters will support the initiative because they see value in completing the rest of the I-225 light rail project from the station at Iliff at I-225 to the Peoria Street Smith Road station.

“I think most people share that view that we need service and we need it sooner rather than later,” Hogan said.

RTD officials have said the cost of the entire, 10.5 mile-long I-225 light rail line, including the cost of planning and design, is about $750 million. Although they won’t comment on their estimates for the remainder of the project, they said they’ve already spent $186 million on projects including the extension to East Iliff Avenue.

That could mean that Aurora taxpayers could be asked to loan RTD about $563 million of the light rail project. But there are a lot of variables, Hogan said. Aurora might not have to loan RTD money to cover the entire cost of the project, but maybe only just a portion, Hogan said.

RTD is currently accepting proposals from construction firms that will give their estimates on how much it would cost to complete the rest of the I-225 rail line.

To Hogan’s knowledge, no other city is considering asking its voters to help RTD with its local light rail project.

“I know others are as anxious to get it done as we are, but I know we are probably a little bolder and moving a little sooner,” Hogan said.

Aurora City Councilwoman Molly Markert said she’s supportive of Hogan’s idea.

“I think it’s a great idea, and I think the momentum is there now,” she said. Public transportation leads to better access to the city’s major job centers like the Anschutz Medical Campus, she said.

“I-225 is Aurora’s spine. This should be the No. 1 campaign that the city council is responsible for,” she said.

In the coming months, Aurora City Council members and RTD officials will have more discussion about the proposal. Hogan said negotiations would have to be complete by early next year.

RTD board member Tom Tobiassen, whose district covers Aurora, said the proposal is novel but there’s always the question of whether voters will be inclined to pay — again — for FasTracks.

“I hear strongly from many people that they want this done as soon as possible,” he said. “A lot of people are disappointed that it’s not done already or that it’s not moving forward.”

Many of his constituents are disappointed that other light rail lines are getting completed before Aurora’s.

The West Rail Line through Lakewood and Golden is more than 90 percent complete and scheduled to open next April, and work is being done on the East Rail Line and Gold Line.

But what most people forget, Tobiassen said, is that RTD scored a $1 billion federal grant for the East and Gold lines.

“It made sense to move forward with that, but that leaves the other corridors unfunded in the meantime, and we’re struggling to find the funds to get it done,” Tobiassen said.

Hogan’s plan may or may not be the solution to that problem.

“I think it’s very encouraging that he had the foresight to put a proposal out there on the table, and I think it’s worth considering,” Tobiassen said.

Reach reporter Sara Castellanos at 720-449-9036 or sara@aurorasentinel.com.