Supporters of Ballot Measure 7A to fund the Front Range Passenger Rail District are claiming victory.
If passed, there would be a 0.333% sales tax in the Front Range Passenger Rail District to fund the southern portion of the Colorado Connector, also known as CoCo.
The daily regional train would serve communities up and down the Front Range from Pueblo to Fort Collins. The tax would also pay for a new station in Trinidad on Amtrak’s Southwest Chief long-distance route between Los Angeles and Chicago.
“Even with billions spent every year on roads, traffic just keeps getting worse. The Colorado Connector is the practical way to get more cars off the road and reduce air pollution,” a spokesman for Coloradans for CoCo, the campaign committee supporting Measure 7A, said in a written statement. It would benefit "even those who never ride the train.”
This measure would provide the funding needed to extend the southern portion of the route between Denver and Pueblo, which is proposed to begin service in 2032. By using freight railroad tracks already in place, the campaign also says CoCo will cost less to build and will be operational sooner than projects that need to start from scratch.
Funds from metro Denver's Regional Transportation District and the Colorado Department of Transportation are paying for the “starter” route north of Denver, which is expected to begin three-times daily round-trip service in 2029, regardless of whether Ballot Issue 7A passes.
The new sales tax collections generated by the measure would also support increasing the frequency of service to 10 round-trips daily on the northern route and eight round-trips daily on the southern route, once the trains are running.
Regular train service along the Interstate 25 corridor would provide a “reliable alternative to driving, with a fare that stays the same no matter what gas costs,” according to the campaign. Advocates say it would connect to existing local transit systems, providing commuters, students, and families a safer, affordable, less stressful way to get to the places they need or want to go.
Additionally, the campaign estimated the train will reduce emissions by an amount roughly equivalent to removing about 29,000 cars from roads along the Front Range.
Starting next year, if you live or shop in the 29 municipalities or the seven Sterling Ranch metro districts that belong to the Front Range Passenger Rail District, you’ll pay an additional third of a cent in taxes for every dollar you spend there, except on exempted items. The tax would not apply to gasoline, food, residential electricity and gas, prescription drugs, and medical supplies.
The district includes: Arvada, Boulder, Bow Mar, Broomfield, Centennial, Cherry Hills Village, Colorado Springs, Columbine Valley, Denver, Englewood, Federal Heights, Fort Collins, Glendale, Greenwood Village, Lafayette, Lakeside, Lakewood, Littleton, Longmont, Louisville, Loveland, Manitou Springs, Mountain View, Pueblo, Sheridan, Starkville, Superior, Trinidad, and Westminster. It also includes Sterling Ranch Colorado Metropolitan Districts Numbers 1 through 7 in Douglas County.
Once daily regional train service is running on the entire route, stations will be located in: Fort Collins, Loveland, Longmont, Boulder, Louisville, Broomfield, Westminster, Denver Union Station, Littleton, Sterling Ranch, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo.
A portion of the sales tax collections will be returned to each community with a station to use for infrastructure, affordable housing and more.
The measure does not take funding away from highways. The campaign also noted that an independent audit and citizen oversight are included in the ballot language.
Colorado’s major sports teams came out in support of the measure to support CoCo including the Broncos, Nuggets, Rockies and Avalanche. City officials, like the mayors of Denver, Pueblo and Boulder also endorsed the measure. Coloradans for CoCo includes business and civic leaders from across the Front Range, as well as employers, labor groups, and environmental advocates around the state.
The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners came out in opposition to the new sales tax, as did the Independence Institute and Let’s Go Colorado, among others. Some people spoke out against it online and at public meetings, along with submitted comments and published opinion columns.
Most cited concerns about wasted taxes, ineffective transportation, and lack of accountability. They compared it to other transit projects that are delayed or remain incomplete and have cost overruns, including Denver RTD’s FasTracks and several projects in other states. They also questioned paying for a project that's years away from being operational and is likely to cost billions of dollars.
In October, ballots that included Ballot Issue 7A were sent to more than 800,000 voters who do not live in the Front Range Passenger Rail District and are therefore ineligible to vote on the measure. The Secretary of State’s office worked with the county clerks to ensure only eligible voters could weigh in on this measure.
Also, there were concerns about whether millions of dollars spent on mailers and other outreach about CoCo sent in August were simply educational communications and materials, or if it was an effort to sidestep state laws governing agencies’ influence on elections.
