Aurora eyes new path forward to pay for needed road repairs

AURORA | Aurora’s roads are feeling the impact of supporting the state’s third-largest population at nearly 350,000.

With no new revenue sources on the horizon after a failed 2014 ballot initiative, city officials are now considering options such as a transportation fee to fund regular street maintenance and repairs.

“The reality is people want the roads to be improved, and they want the better highways and fewer pot holes, but nobody wants to put something on the ballot and actually vote yes to get the money flowing to those projects,” said City Councilman Bob LeGare, chair of the city’s Management and Finance Policy Committee. 

Right now, Aurora’s roads are considered to be in fair condition, according to the Pavement Condition Index, which measures street conditions nationwide. But in the next five years, the quality of the 966 miles of road in the city is expected to drop from 68 to 64.

“The cost of maintaining them continues to increase, and we continue to grow and need more for the growth and more for cost of materials for the maintenance,” said Jason Batchelor, Aurora’s interim deputy city manager. 

Fifty-four percent of the city’s road network is rated in good condition, 14 percent is rated in fair condition, and 32 percent is rated to be in poor condition, according to city documents.

A good rating, according to the national index, is somewhere in the 70 range. In 2012, both Boulder and Castle Rock held ratings of 75. Boulder, unlike Aurora, was able to get more funding for its roads through a voter-approved sales tax.

In last year’s municipal election, Aurora residents largely voted down a measure to extend a property tax that would have generated millions annually for local transportation projects, including street repairs.

The city’s five-year capital plan of $87 million is not enough to keep up with what will amount to close to $100 million estimated in needed road repairs, Batchelor said.

Batchelor said the city receives more than $13 million annually from the state highway user tax, county road and bridge taxes, and the Adams County Transportation tax.

The lion’s share of that money is expected to remain relatively flat for the next five years.

Batchelor said in 2015 alone, the city spent more than $20 million on street maintenance. In the next five years, the city only predicts that number will grow.

That’s why Batchelor said city officials are considering other options such as a fee for funding road repairs. That would not need to go to voters for approval unlike a tax.

He said the city is reevaluating a measure — similar to one City Council looked at in 2008 — that would generate $15 million a year over a three-year period, and would be included as part of a monthly fee that shows up on residents’ utility or water bill or a separately mailed bill.

Under that measure, a single family home would see a monthly street maintenance fee of $6.56. A retail business would see a monthly fee of $22.

He pointed to the City of Loveland, which has a similar fee structure.

Loveland has been collecting a transportation maintenance fee since 2000 as part of its stormwater bill. The fees bring the city about $2 million a year for road repairs.

Dave Klockeman, an engineer with the City of Loveland, said the fee, which initially paid for 30 percent of the Loveland’s road maintenance, now accounts for 50 percent of maintenance. 

Klockeman said Loveland residents pay $2 a month for street maintenance while businesses pay more. He said the city has been able to maintain its rating of “good” for its 350 miles of road because of the fee.

“It’s worked out well here,” he said. “We don’t seem to get complaints. The citizens know the money we collect for the fee gets used to maintain our streets.”

Batchelor said Aurora is also looking to the state of Oregon, which is in the process of implementing a pay-as-you drive road tax.

That tax, the first of its kind in the nation, is open to 5,000 volunteer drivers who will have their mileage recorded and be charged 1.5 cents per mile. In return, they get credit to offset the fuel tax at the pump.

Batchelor said not only Aurora but the entire state is feeling the effects of a stagnant federal gas tax, which has stayed at 18.4 cents per gallon for more than two decades.

In June, Colorado Department of Transportation Director Shailen Bhatt told Colorado Public Radio the department is considering  a mileage-based fee program similar to Oregon’s and even more toll roads in the future.

LeGare said he would have some heartburn with city council implementing a fee for road improvements, since it would not have to be approved by voters.

“From a standpoint of transparency, the fee should go to the voters for me to support it,” he said.