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This November voters will flock to the polls once again. Members of the El Paso County Council are drawing up the bills they want to include on the ballot. One of those bills will create a transportation tax extension to reallocate funds to be spent on one-time projects. Currently, there is a 1 cent sales tax that is collected. They divvied this collection up between regional governments.

The biggest winner of the sales tax goes to Colorado Springs and the El Paso County community. That will not change. What will change is what projects those taxes, fund. The official proportion will grant 55% of this tax to go to funds to support one-time projects. This can help fresh developments rather than standard maintenance of roads and bridges.

Why Does Colorado Springs Need a Tax Extension?

The decision for this was made because Colorado Springs is falling behind other similar regions in the country. Residents have also been clamoring for change, specifically transportation options. They want to choose to drive, or ride a bike, or use public transit. While Councilman Bill Murray wants to propose a tax increase to solve these issues, wiser heads prevailed, and he was shutdown by the rest of the council.

This stems from the fact that residents have voted against tax increases in the past and El Paso County needs to allocate funds as soon as possible. Voters shot one tax increase down in the polls to raise park taxes and another was to raise taxes for roads and park maintenance. This new tax extension tries to address both issues.

What happens if a Tax Extension is approved?

If passed, the additional fund will help one-time projects and will raise $434 million over the next 10 years. With these funds, they have plans to allocate the taxes to the following projects:

• $153 million of that to go to road expansion and enhancement project.
• $117 million to roadway preservation projects
• $75.5 million in bridge preservation projects
• $47.5 for transit trails and non-motorized projects

They have released some details regarding the specific projects that are planned.

• Powers Boulevard extension from Colorado 83 to Voyager Parkway
• Improvements along Dublin Boulevard from Peterson Road to Marksheffel Road
• Widen Marksheffel Road
• Improve 30th street from Mesa Road to Garden of the Gods
• Improvements to 30th Street from Fontanero Street to Mesa Road

Is this a Good Thing?

Whatever they do, we know the people of Colorado Springs will benefit. However, these benefits may be too little too late. El Paso County is playing catch up and planning for improvements that are years behind. City council members like Bill Murray want to blame taxpayers who didn’t want to raise taxes to approve these projects sooner. But most people see solutions like this have always existed and this could have been implemented sooner.

Nothing is for sure yet, the vote needs to pass first. If not, things will stay the same. It’s up to the voters. But if they carry these projects out, roads should be easier to navigate. To prepare for the election you can register to vote, CLICK HERE!

And if you need help to navigate your next move, call Colorado Springs Car Transport. If you’re moving across the country or across the state, Colorado Springs Car Transport makes it easy to have your car shipped to anywhere in the United States.