Communities: Decisions made elsewhere limit action on growth

October 27, 2007

Dennis Webb
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado


State and federal policies are crippling the ability of area governments to cope with fast-paced growth, local elected officials say.

The representatives spoke Friday during a Healthy Mountain Communities forum at which a state demographer forecasted "explosive growth" in Garfield County over the next two decades.

Jim Westkott, senior demographer for the state Department of Local Affairs, said 1 percent annual growth is a manageable, desirable level. When it comes to any growth above 3 percent, "you could use the word explosive," he said during HMC's State of the Valley Symposium at the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs.

In Garfield County, he is projecting annual growth of 4.5 percent through 2010, 4.8 percent from 2010-15, and 3.7 percent from 2015-25, thanks partly to the energy development boom. Westkott expects the county population to reach 115,000 in 2025, up from 50,700 in 2005.

Over the same 20 years, Westkott anticipates that Pitkin County will grow from 16,400 to 24,000, and Eagle County from 49,400 to 81,000, driven in good measure by real estate purchases by retiring baby-boomers.

"These are big numbers. It's really going to require you to be thinking about what all's going to happen and where you're going to put it," he said.

Rifle Mayor Keith Lambert said growth already is the top challenge for his town.

"Last year the city of Rifle had 7 percent growth. Katie bar the door. That's our issue," Lambert said.

The city faces challenges dealing with transportation, housing and infrastructure. But he said it's getting little help from the state, thanks to state funding limitations created by measures such as TABOR and Amendment 23. Rifle also has had to fight at the state level for more severance taxes for energy development impacts even as some in the state legislature eye those taxes for other uses.

"The things that are happening out there (in state government) are coming right home to roost in our hometown," Lambert told more than 150 symposium participants, his voice rising in frustration.

Carbondale Mayor Michael Hassig shared Lambert's concern. He said part of the problem is a national dialogue that "demonizes the role of government" and doesn't acknowledge government's need for resources to respond to needs.

"We can talk about transit, we can talk about housing, we can talk about all the issues. The fact is that at a very local level we can't address any of those in a meaningful way. We have to grapple with how do we do this on a shoestring," he said.

Steamboat Springs City Council member Ken Brenner said federal energy policy needs to change if communities affected by energy development are to be able to keep up with demands. The Bush administration has pressed for increased oil and gas drilling on federal lands such as those in northwest Colorado.

Lambert, Garfield County Commissioner Trési Houpt and others at Friday's event said the state needs to look at increasing the severance tax rate in Colorado and eliminating the current severance tax credit based on local property taxes companies pay on energy production. A state committee is currently evaluating possible changes to the formula for distributing existing severance tax dollars.

Colorado House of Representatives Speaker Andrew Romanoff said during Friday's forum that the state needs to make some fiscal changes if it's going to be able do its job right. He acknowledged the consequences of the current situation.

"We've asked you in local government to pick up what we're not," he said. "We're in this together and it seems to me we ought to have a coalition of the willing to put our budget back to work."

One problem is conflicting constitutional amendments such as TABOR (the Taxpayers Bill of Rights), which limits state revenues, and Amendment 23, which requires increases in spending for K-12 education.

"Somebody said it's like having one foot on the brakes and one foot on the gas - your car won't go," he said.

Romanoff said he would like to have Colorado voters consider a measure that would impose a temporary time-out on the constitutional provision limiting constitutional amendments to a single subject. That would allow for voters to then be presented with a comprehensive measure resolving conflicts between existing amendments so the state can regain some flexibility in trying to meet its fiscal needs.

Some local officials also want to reinstate the ability of communities, with voter approval, to impose real estate transfer taxes for uses such as affordable housing and open space acquisition. That ability was removed by TABOR for communities that didn't already have such taxes in place.


Contact Dennis Webb: 384-9119

dwebb@postindependent.com
 

Source: Post Independent [http://www.postindependent.com/article/20071027/VALLEYNEWS/110270065]