HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolution-2004-0010
Resolution No. 10-2004
TITLE: A RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF AN EQUITABLE
ALLOCATION OF STATE AND FEDERAL TRANSPORTATION
DOLLARS TO THE METROPOLITAN DENVER REGION
WHEREAS, the Colorado Transportation CommIssion adopts long range plan resource
allocations of all state and federal transportation revenues; and
WHEREAS, the metropolitan Denver regIOn constitutes 56 percent of the state's
population and contributes 52 percent of the transportation dollars allocated by the Colorado
TransportatIOn Commission, and
WHEREAS, the metro Denver region's share of the Colorado Department of
Transportation's long range plan resource allocations was 46 percent in the November 1998
Statewide TransportatIOn Plan adopted by the Colorado Transportation Commission, and
WHEREAS, the most recent TransportatIOn Resource AllocatIOn for FY 2005 - 2030,
dated November 24, 2003, reduces the metro Denver region's share of state transportation
revenues to less than 28 percent thereby making It difficult for the Denver metro area to address
its congestIOn problems; and
WHEREAS, this reduction in metro Denver's share of state transportation revenues
translates to a reduction of 4.2 bIllion dollars compared to what would have been receIved just
five years ago by the fifty municipalItIes and counties III the metro Denver RegIOn, and
WHEREAS, thIS reductIOn III metro Denver's resource allocation provIdes the businesses
and residents of the Denver region only 54 cents back for every dollar paId in taxes, and
WHEREAS, the federal TransportatIOn Equity Act for the 21 st Century (TEA-21)
guarantees that each state is to receive at least 90 5 percent of every dollar It contributes to the
Highway Account of the Highway Trust Fund, and the Colorado congressIOnal delegation
strongly supported this guaranteed minimum return to donor states, and
WHEREAS, the same pnnciple of transportation funding eqUIty should apply to the
allocatIon of state transportation revenues by the Colorado Transportation Commission to each
of the 15 transportation plannlllg regIOns in the State of Colorado, Illcluding the metro Denver
regIOn,
WHEREAS, thIS departure from the previous allocatIon of state transportatIOn revenues
to the metro Denver region will undermine the state's capacity to address both rural and urban
transportatIon needs in a balanced manner and will impact negatively on the metropolItan
Denver economy, which already is struggllllg as the thIrd-most congested region in the natIon,
and
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WHEREAS, severe congestion jeopardizes the Denver region's quahty ofhfe for all of
Its resIdents, and impedes the Denver regIOn's ability to expand eXlstlllg businesses and attract
new buslllesses,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the CIty of Wheat Ridge strongly
recommends an equitable allocation of State and Federal transportatIOn revenues to the 50
municlpahties and counties of the metro Denver region in CDOT's proposed FY 2005-2030
TransportatIOn Resource AllocatIOn, dated November 24, 2003~ and further requests that the
Transportation CommissIOn reject the proposed Plan Allocation and direct CDOT to submIt a
modIfied Plan allocation that addresses the state's transportation needs III a balanced and
eqUItable manner whIch ensures that each of the state's transportatIOn planning regions receives
no less than 90 percent of the estimated value ofrevenues contributed from that region.
DONE AND RESOLVED BY THE WHEAT RIDGE CITY COUNCIL
THIS 10th day of May ,2004.
ATTEST.
't:-,..." C." \. ( \.l--J ~
PAMELA Y ANDERSON, CITY CLERK