How to pay as important as what you pay

Fort Collins recently issued its latest outstanding water quality report. Its storm-water infrastructure has reduced the acreage within floodplains significantly over the years, and electricity comes to residents’ homes safely and reliably every day.

When it comes to city streets, though, let’s not go there.

What’s the difference? Streets are the only major infrastructure system without a predictable maintenance budget.

As reporter Kristen Tatti explains in this issue, of the three major cities in Northern Colorado, only Loveland assesses a fixed utility fee for street repairs. Fort Collins and Greeley both pay for maintenance from variable yearly sales tax collections, which have been declining steeply of late.

Fort Collins dedicates a quarter-cent sales tax to streets, supplemented by general fund dollars. In Greeley, a variety of physical maintenance programs share a tax on groceries – not the most popular fundraiser, and almost impossible to increase.

Loveland and Greeley have roughly the same number of miles of streets, and spend about the same amount each year on their upkeep. But Greeley streets, as measured by the Pavement Quality Index, are about half as good, teetering on the verge of irreparable.

A dedicated utility fee allows a city to budget for future repairs, and make sure each stretch of road receives regular attention. Because sales tax collections fluctuate from month to month, long-term budgeting and routine maintenance become much more difficult.

Yet both Fort Collins and Greeley are considering asking voters to continue funding streets through sales taxes this November, even though the amounts raised won’t come close to improving local roads. The best we can hope for is slower deterioration.

We urge both Fort Collins and Greeley to at least consider a fee-based system instead. The current economy and political climate bode ill for passage of any tax, regardless of the urgency of the funding requirements.

Previous fee proposals have foundered on issues of equity. Such assessment issues could be addressed in a number of ways, perhaps through some combination of fees and taxes. In Fort Collins, one example could be continuation of the quarter-cent dedicated street tax to maintain the arterial roads that see mostly commercial traffic, while assessing a $10 monthly fee on all residential utility customers to maintain local streets. That could free up the general fund for other expenditures while bringing predictability to street maintenance.

It would also eliminate the annual fight for dollars to put into potholes.

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