Failure of legislators to send transportation tax measure to voters

“Bump slows road effort,” and “Compromise on teen sexting gets first nod,” April 21 news stories.

The Colorado legislature has now failed to put a sales tax on the ballot to deal with our transportation needs. Maybe they should take a whole new tack and require developers to pay for the highways, transit and schools their developments require, just like they do for water, sewer and parks, with tap/hookup/ development fees. Impact fees don’t raise housing prices or office rents, because these are set by the “market,” not by costs. Who will pay more is the developers: They make huge profits by selling access to roads and schools without paying to make the necessary improvements, leaving the burden on the rest of us, because the taxes their developments pay are a tiny fraction of the costs they impose. It’s time growth paid its own way. And conveniently, development impact fees do not require TABOR elections, and their revenues can be exempt from TABOR revenue/expenditure limitations. BBB The overriding takeaway from Friday’s newspaper is that all Coloradans should feel a sigh of relief that our steadfast legislators have solved the great teen sexting threat, but of lesser importance to them is that hospitals may close and our roads and infrastructure will continue to fall down around us. Perhaps this phase of representative democracy has run its course and a return to the direct democracy of those fledgling pilgrim settlements is needed to right the ship of state and to bring our lawmakers’ real responsibilities back into focus. Legislators, if you cannot or will not do your jobs, we citizens are prepared to vote for everything that really is necessary. Step aside and just give us a ballot.