On June 7th, 2007, despite efforts from Jack Hilbert, Douglas County Commissioner, and a small group of citizens from Franktown, RTD unilaterally eliminated RTD bus service for the Franktown area which was originally contained within district boundaries. What RTD did not eliminate was the one percent RTD tax Franktown citizens are still paying to date. This tax burden to Franktown citizens is inequitable, considering Retail Sales & Services including Major Construction Suppliers, Auto Body Repair, Service Stations, Auto Sales, Motorcycle Sales & Repair, Bar & Restaurants, and Convenience Stores. Further, whenever a household purchases Motor Vehicles, Furniture, or other ʽBig Ticketʼ Items or engages a new or remodel construction project, all taxable materials delivered are also subject to this one percent tax. Every purchase from the Internet at a site with a base in Colorado that is delivered to homes is subject to this tax.
Granted, a public meeting was held before eliminating the service, albeit a highly unpublicized meeting in Parker. It is important to note that RTDʼS website says that attendance at meetings is not mandatory, rather comments can be sent. However, we were told when they eliminated service in Franktown, one of the reasons they finalized their decision to eliminate the service was that there was not enough citizenʼs attending the meeting to warrant a challenge to their decision. Now RTD is planning on elimination of the following Routes that would further eliminate service in Douglas County:
Elimination of bus route 410. This route goes from the Pinery and downtown Parker to the Lincoln light rail station.
Elimination of the Parker Call n Ride and Access a Ride
Elimination of the Lone Tree Call n Ride on Saturdays
Elimination of the Highlands Ranch Call n Ride
Elimination of the light rail G line. This is the direct service line from the 9 Mile (225) station to the Southeast stations.
Elimination of bus route 465. This route goes from the tech center south along the highway to Skyridge hospital.
Apparently, these routes are what they refer to as ʽSubsidizedʼ using the following formula in scaling back or eliminating service ignoring citizens protests: The total cost of providing service minus the revenues generated via rider ship divided by the rider ship. They then list the amounts subsidized and draw a line. The RTD formula conveniently ignores the vast sales tax revenue generated by the large consumer base within the areas targeted for service elimination.
At some point one has to wonder if the RTD lost site of why they were created in the first place. Also, at what point can a legal challenge be mounted in terms of service elimination as opposed to scaling back? For example, if the RTD unilaterally decided to eliminate all bus service from outlying regions of the district and service only routes within the confines of Denver County, is there no check and balance? What other alternatives has the RTD examined beyond simple elimination? If it’s too costly to provide a large underutilized bus to an area, why not ‘right size’ and provide service with a smaller vehicle. Our understanding is that the RTD was voted in by the citizens of the proposed regional district at the time, and that this vote was clearly based upon the premise of being provided a service.
Obviously, nowhere in the verbiage of the bill, was there a provision that stated the RTD can unilaterally decide to eliminate service to entire parts of the district at their discretion yet continue to impose a tax.
Castle Rock was successful in eliminating the tax burden when no service was provided, but this is no simple process as it was a legislative decision regarding the initial boundaries once the voters had approved creation of the RTD. Castle Rock government had to find both a Senator and a Representative of the House to sponsor a House bill to repeal the tax. The number of this bill that did eventually pass is H.B. 04-1066. Furthermore, Castle Rockʽs repeal of the tax was considered by those who chose to sponsor the bill because there was a “territorial” trade, which was the south Meridian Area along Lincoln at the Wild life Experience being added to RTD if Castle Rock could choose to opt out. This option for Franktown citizens to repeal the tax had been considered, but given the tremendous if not impossible undertaking to get Colorado legislators to do anything that would decrease the capability of RTD to finance the debt created by the original Bonds, there was no sponsors for the bill. That the RTD continues to issue new Bonds, only serves to increase that original debt.
We totally understand the fiscal nature of RTD in terms of the obligations that come with bonds sold to investors, and the expectation of yields based on revenue collected, but have to go back to that simple fact that the district was voted in and created to serve the needs of the citizens, not as a financial instrument. RTD mission statement is this: “To meet our constituents’ present and future public transit needs by offering safe, clean, reliable, courteous, accessible and cost-effective service throughout the district.”
What appears to be happening is that the RTD is using the unfortunate citizens of Douglas County (and perhaps other counties) who happen to be within the outer boundaries of the District to subsidize the rider ship of the more populated regions and of course to maintain the revenue collected through the sales tax in areas where service will no longer be provided. What is further becoming quite evident is that the RTD business model is flawed (and biased in favor of investors) in that it does not balance cost of operation including debt service against total revenue collected. Rather, it utilizes operational service elimination as a means of continuing to sustain higher bond yields at the expense of the citizens who will no longer receive the benefit they are paying for, i.e. public transportation. No wonder “Fitch Ratings has assigned an ‘AA’ rating to the Regional Transportation District, Colorado’s (RTD) $40,650,000 sales tax revenue refunding bonds, series 2008A.”
Citizens who currently share the tax burden without the benefit of service, as well as those who are about to join these ranks have a right to know the answer to very important questions such as; to whom is the RTD accountable? What about students who commute from Franktown and Parker to the Auraria Campus? What about the commuters from the Franktown area who currently drive to the Pinery when the Pinery service is eliminated, or those in Parker when that service is compromised? What about that old premise regarding ʽtaxation without representationʼ? Finally, how will the increased automobile traffic affect ʽgreenʼ initiatives? There will be a public meeting at the Parker Town Hall, 20120 E. Main Street in the Council Chambers on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 7:00 p.m.
We urge you to make this meeting public knowledge, and hope that you might be as interested as we are in getting some answers.
Arnie and Bobbi Neiss