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RTD Wrestles With FasTracks Funding Shortfall

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Aug 21, 2008 6:09 pm US/Mountain

RTD Wrestles With FasTracks Funding Shortfall

Written by Paul Day

Reporting
Paul Day
DENVER (CBS4) ― The RTD Board was set to meet Thursday evening to hash out options for solving a nearly $2 billion projected revenue shortfall for its Light Rail expansion FasTracks project.

"We've got some really major decisions to make," says Noel Busck, an RTD Board Member.

The ambitious mass transit project was originally estimated to cost less than $5 billion when voters approved it 4 years ago.

In 2007, RTD said the price tag had increased to $6.1 billion

The latest cost projection pegs the project at $7.9 billion.

So what seemed like a comparative bargain in 2004 is threatening to become a boondoggle to the voters who already raised their taxes to help pay for the project.

"They're skeptical whether we can do this or not. We need to build their confidence again," Busck said.

The skyrocketing price for FasTracks is blamed on rising construction costs at a time when the economy is softening and RTD's sales tax revenues are down.

"So we have this disconnect between where we thought we'd be and where we are," explains Cal Marsella, RTD's General Manager.

He adds, "We're trying to adjust to that to the best of our ability."

RTD has at least three options to consider for fixing the problem:

-- Shorten the length of some of the proposed RTD lines, but finish everything on time by 2017.

-- Keep the proposed lines as planned, but extend the construction timetable out beyond 2017.

-- Ask voters to raise taxes again so the whole project can be completed on schedule in 2017.

Busck is a former mayor of Thornton who says the Board would be "hammered" right now if it went to voters asking for another tax increase.

He thinks there may be other options to consider, including asking the federal government to play a bigger funding role in FasTracks.

The projected funding shortfall is real, but it's not exactly urgent.

Besides Thursday night's meeting, RTD will hold 15 public meetings throughout the Denver Metro Area before making a decision sometime in November.

(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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