CDOT to sell our roads without citizen approval.

[tmleadr03]

CDOT is funded by taxes on fuel sales and supplemented by fed dollars. If anybody tells you different they are full of shit.
No money from the general fund/coffers goes to CDOT.
Therefore any proposed tax increase will go the the general fund and NOT CDOT.
They are lying.

Unless they raise fuel sales tax...

[jerrymrc]

Unless they raise fuel sales tax...

And the problem with that is the "other" vehicles that use the roads is increasing and not paying any and/or very reduced taxes. Some states are coming up with a plan that drives the tree hugger's nuts.

[tmleadr03]

And the problem with that is the "other" vehicles that use the roads is increasing and not paying any and/or very reduced taxes. Some states are coming up with a plan that drives the tree hugger's nuts.

Mileage tax.

[Eric P]

Mileage tax.

How many of you would accept a gps tracker in your vehicle? Who would own the data?

Another aspect of the VMT is they could change the tax rate based on congestion, air pollution alert days, or what road you are driving on. It would track what roads are travelled and divvy up the tax dollars based on what roads are used.

I think the only way I could accept it is if only used the GPS to verify you are on a taxable road and to start the odometer. Once off a road, say your private drive, the odometer would turn off. Same if you left the state.

[spqrzilla]

CDOT is funded by taxes on fuel sales and supplemented by fed dollars. If anybody tells you different they are full of shit.
No money from the general fund/coffers goes to CDOT.
Therefore any proposed tax increase will go the the general fund and NOT CDOT.
They are lying.

Well, sure they are lying. But dollars are fungible. The idea that X is funded by Y is really not true. Its not like they paint little "CDOT" initials on the Federal Reserve notes received from the gas stations. If I pay my Xcel bill from my checking account, does that mean that my wife's income made no contribution to that bill?

[bobbyfairbanks]

Privatization is not socialism or communism but a very large step to freedom. You should be happy that things are leaving the governments control and being transferred private hands.

[RblDiver]

CDOT is funded by taxes on fuel sales and supplemented by fed dollars. If anybody tells you different they are full of shit.

Indeed, my dad (civil engineer with CDOT) was saying the other day that his projects are ~80% paid by the feds. (Which makes an interesting situation now that they're in something of a fight with the Nat'l Parks Service).

[Rabid]

Privatization is not socialism or communism but a very large step to freedom. You should be happy that things are leaving the governments control and being transferred private hands.

Do you think they will lower our fuel taxes if the highways were privatized? Lets just answer that, no they will not. I do not want my wallet getting picked by two hands rather then one. There are two things i do not want privatized right now. That being our infrastructure and our safety, be it police, fire, and even the air traffic controllers the R's have been after for decades to name a few. If we can cut costs, zero out our taxes in that area and improve on what we already have then it is time to take care of those concerns but i do not see it yet. This is our government taking care of this without public say, what a stupid idea. Why not open it up to bidding after we the people decide what we think needs to be done while they lease our land from us. Why can't we the people determine fines if the winner of the contract can not complete their work on time with the least inconvenience. The road to privatization needs to be lead by use not a bunch of special interest groups that control our money grubbing officials.

[rockhound]

Privatization is not socialism or communism but a very large step to freedom. You should be happy that things are leaving the governments control and being transferred private hands.

you are nuts, i lived in florida for years. they did not open a major highway project the entire time i was there that was not a toll road. it is higher now, but at the time it was 9 bucks to run the east/west expresssway from one end of orlando to the other. 18 bucks a day added to a commute, $360 a month if you had to commute.

wow that sounds like freedom

[Aloha_Shooter]

1. CDOT is not selling US 36. They are leasing out portions of it in return for a private concern taking care of the maintenance so the state not only gets cash out of the deal but is relieved of an annual expense. The private concern thinks they can make it work financially by charging a toll for people who want express routes.
2. We would be paying for US 36 maintenance and upgrades anyway. The difference here is that the cost is being borne by those who want to travel faster.
3. You can still go east to west across Florida without paying the tolls, it just takes 3-4 times as long. The toll road is successful because people want to get from I-95 to Naples or Tampa or West Palm Beach faster and are willing to pay for it. It is freedom because you have choices: you can pay in cash or you can pay in time. Florida has no income taxes and a lower sales tax than we do here -- and some of you want to give the Dems permission to raise taxes even more to pay for highway maintenance that should already be budgeted.
4. From what I've been able to dig up in the past day, the toll road and private-public partnership proposals have been open and transparent -- including bidding -- for two years. It's not CDOT's fault that most of us have ignored it because of the fights over Amendment 64, gun control, sex education in elementary schools, etc.

Why am I not surprised this thread was started by nynco? It's so full of misinformation you'd think it came from the White House Communications Director.