EDITORIAL: Aurora can’t take the ‘no’ road; time for a better transportation plan

Aurora voters unwisely chose the road to ruin last week. Again.

Among ballot questions about pit bulls, abortions and gambling, voters were largely left un-hassled on another question, Proposition 2B, which received little attention one way or another.

City officials were asking voters to spend about $75 million on fixing, improving and expanding local road and transportation projects. There was no tax increase with the question. Instead, the city was asking voters if it could keep an old property tax hike still on the books. That modest property tax levy paid for city capital improvement projects decades ago, and the bonds have finally been paid off.

Essentially, the old tax hike has been costing owners of homes valued at about $200,000 about $2 a month. That’s it. So the city put together a list of some of the most badly needed improvements needed in Aurora, and a way to parlay the old tax into $75 million worth of asphalt.

No tax increase. No big refund for those voting against the measure. Way too many local road needs and far too little money. And voters said, “no.” In fact, by a nearly 2-1 margin, voters said, “hell, no.”

If the city can’t virtually give away road improvements to residents, Aurora has got a problem.

This is not a posh city with high taxes. Aurora hasn’t seen a city property tax increase for more than 20 years. The list of wants and needs is very long. While neighboring cities offer residents an increasing amount of recreation and cultural amenities, as well as better roads, Aurora residents are getting what they pay for: bare bones.

The problem is, that while taxes here have not gone up, the price of everything else has. Aurora has pared down its library system and doesn’t even dream about doing anything but inching along a plan to rejuvenate what few dilapidated amenities it has left. The city hasn’t been saving money, because the bill for un-repaired and inadequate roads has been growing. It will get to the point soon where Aurora must cut other programs to feed the growing list of transportation needs. While the city can eek out some money from across-the-board budget cuts, it would never be nearly enough. The only place Aurora can cut is in public safety. Since the city is constrained by a 25-year-old police staffing measure, it wouldn’t be easy, and it wouldn’t be advisable. Certainly Aurora should continuously look for ways to provide a safer community by spending less money, but there is no substitute for uniformed cops on patrol, and communities all over the country have learned that lesson.

That means Aurora has only two real choices: let the roads fall apart, or raise taxes to fix them. It isn’t that Aurora doesn’t spend your tax money now to fix and improve roads. Aurora plans on going through more than $87 million on road projects next year. But the bucket of road cash leaks faster than it fills. It’s just not enough.

While it’s discouraging because this is the second time voters have rejected a measure that essentially gives away road improvements, city leaders must find a way to get the message across that the options are few and galling. School districts are often successful at selling tax hikes because they bolt on a large number of vested interests. Aurora may have to create a “bond issue” that provides for roads and other items that can get energized constituencies on board to bring in the votes.

It’s hard work that makes sense in an off-election year, and the other choices, no roads or less police, are the wrong answers.