Residential Road Maintenance

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Permalink Reply by Renae Dahiya on February 7, 2010 at 9:43pm

Letter from George Gerstle Transportation Director

Attachments:

• subletter.pdf, 108 KB

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Permalink Reply by Elaine C. Erb on February 7, 2010 at 10:56pm

Unfortunately i can't read this letter as copied here.

however, I am up to speed on this issue. Unfortunately, people didn't recognize when they moved into subdivisions that the roads were created by the developers and are not county roads. For the county to take on maintenance of these roads, there would be no money for any other projects.

Fans of the great trail system we have in Niwot should take note of this issue and let the NCA know that we feel subdivisions need to pay for their own road maintenance. Money from the county that goes into this slows the progress in completing the LoBo trail connecting Niwot to Longmont and Boulder as well as further trail work and support of alternative transportation. We are so well situated for many of us to leave cars at home when it's time to get to work and activities. Let's not let all the county's money get tied up in paving roads designed only for cars that lead nowhere but to high end homes.

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Permalink Reply by Renae Dahiya on February 16, 2010 at 9:58pm

See my blog from today for the latest NCA communication.

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Permalink Reply by Rob Beausire on April 20, 2010 at 10:04pm

Hi,
I was at the meeting last week - most interesting situation for a newcomer to the area! I have a few comments:
1. The proposed approaches do not appear to take into account housing density, i.e. Niwot is probably fairly concentrated in terms of house per subdivision mile, so we could be in efffect subsidising the rest of the county.
2. Have we looked at funding it ourselves through a Niwot based association? Did I hear that the Gunbarrel area does this? Have we talked to them to see if that might be a lower cost option?
3. The other thing the county ommitted to tell us is how are we going to fund ongoing replacement - this is not a one shot deal even though it is being trewated as such. Roads will continue to deteriorate.....
Cheers
Robert Beausire

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Permalink Reply by NCA Secretary on May 8, 2010 at 7:53am

We had great discussion at the NCA annual meeting about road maintenance! The county mailed out a survey card to county residents (not sure how many and where) which ended May 3rd. They continue to review this issue to determine how repaving roads will be paid for. Voters will be asked to approve any LID or other "tax" to pay for roads. Many citizens want to know what the county is willing to contribute to this end!

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Permalink Reply by NCA Secretary on May 8, 2010 at 7:58am

Great comments and suggestions. It does cause concern that we are all focused on putting out the fire and there is little discussion about the ongoing needs.

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Permalink Reply by NCA Secretary on June 11, 2010 at 9:15am

Boulder County completed a survey to gather input from residents that will be affected by a LID or other means of collecting funds to pay for road repaving. Attached is a letter received today June 11, 2010.

Attachments:

• Letter06-10-2010.pdf, 475 KB

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Permalink Reply by NCA Secretary on June 11, 2010 at 4:02pm

I received this in an email today June 11, 2010

Boulder Road tax
Years of neglect catching up


I recently learned that Boulder County has "changed its policies" by pursuing a special road tax levy, which would disproportionately target residents in unincorporated Boulder County to pay for the paving of roads in these areas. The county has been short-changing roads like this for years, while profligately increasing spending in other areas.

From a budget perspective over the past decade, Boulder County`s Road Fund has been reduced by 59 percent, diminishing from $2.6 million in 2000 to $1.1 million in 2010. However, social services expenditures have increased by over 200 percent during this same period, skyrocketing from $5.2 million in 2000 to over $16.4 million in 2010 and now stands at more than three times the level of expense that was allocated in 2000. (Overall, property tax revenue to the county has nearly doubled since 2000.) If the same proportion of the budget were allocated to roads in 2010 as was allocated in 2000 the total Road Fund would be $4.9 million this year.

This can be fixed with a 3 percent cut in non-Road Fund expenditures. That would enable the Road Fund to be quadrupled from its current amount, and help to begin to make up for years of neglect and avoid the issue of yet another property tax increase. This is not an attack on social priorities, but an appeal to sound fiscal stewardship. The alternative of continuing to allow deterioration of unincorporated county roads or a thinly veiled attempt to raise taxes (under the guise of a "policy change") is simply not acceptable.

Currently, there are few checks and balances at the county level, other than citizens saying enough is enough. I encourage everyone who is concerned about government`s fiscal discipline to contact our County Commissioners about this issue at 303-441-3500.

IRVING ROBERT ARMSTRONG

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