Transportation tax goes down

[Coloradoan]

The results of the Nov. 5 general election finally are in.

That's the good news.

The bad news -- for those who were looking forward to transportation improvements -- is that after qualifying and counting provisional ballots and adding them to election day results, a key part of the $160 million local transportation funding package was defeated by 10 votes, 19,506 to 19,496.

"I'm really disappointed," Fort Collins City Councilman Bill Bertschy said. "I was really hoping to pull it out."

The measure, Issue 2C on the ballot, had trailed by 15 votes before the provisional ballots were counted.

Provisional ballots, as required by state law this year, were issued to anyone claiming to be a registered voter who showed up to vote but could not be readily found on precinct rolls.

Because the provisional ballots could not be validated Nov. 5, they were set aside to be qualified and counted by a five-member board after the unofficial results were posted.

The board reviewed approximately 1,100 provisional ballots. After that review, the number of votes cast in the general election was increased by 797 -- the majority of which are believed to be provisional ballots.

Of those 797 additional ballots, 373 were cast by city voters and were added to the transportation package total.

A seven-member elections canvas board reviewed and certified the results Monday and made them public Wednesday as mandated by state law.

The closeness of the issue automatically triggers a recount, which will begin today. Recount results will be certified by the elections canvas board and posted publicly Monday.

Despite the recount, most observers don't expect the outcome to change.

"I'm not sure even with a recount it will change," Bertschy said.

The ballot measure, which called for a 1 percent excise tax and a 20-year, quarter-cent sales and use tax, was part of a larger $160 million transportation funding package. Other parts are a $1-per-dwelling unit transportation maintenance fee and a reallocation of $1 million annually from the general fund to the transportation capital needs fund.

When asked what the closeness of the vote meant, opinions differed greatly.

"I don't like to say I told you so, but voters have told us before they don't like (bundling) taxes," Mayor Ray Martinez said. "I don't know when we will start paying attention to that, but we should. It's ironic that the last three taxes that were bundled were defeated. That's not a coincidence."

Bertschy disagreed.

"If anything, the voters were saying it's bad economic times for a tax. I think it was a 50-50 split, with half saying that the cost exceeds the need and the other half looking at it the other way," he said.

"My analysis is that information about this came late. After looking at it, I believe that we did worse with early voters and absentee voters. Many voted ahead of the publicity. I think with more information, they would have been more inclined to vote for it."

Accountant and former mayor John Knezovich said that's not true.

"How long has information been out there?" he said. "A long time, way before the early voting began on Oct. 15.

"I think we were just very good about getting our message out."

Knezovich, and those opposed to the package, believe it was defeated because:

# It should have been voted on during a regular election in April, not the general election.

# It was a bad decision to put a tax measure on during a weak economy.

# Certain groups against growth vote no on such issues.

# The 1 percent excise tax should have been dropped in favor of a slightly higher sales and use tax.

When asked if the measure should be reworked and put before the voters again, all agreed it should. "We're going to have to (try again)," Bertschy said. "Our needs are not going away any time soon. It could come back in April (2003)."