Routt County commissioners discussed the intricacies of establishing a potential Regional Transportation Authority and explored funding mechanisms at the county’s first public hearing on the authority during their regular meeting on Tuesday. 

The hearing followed a similar format to the city council’s first public hearing on an RTA, including a presentation from consultant Bill Ray, who highlighted the benefits and challenges of creating an RTA to improve transit options across Yampa Valley.

Each of the six member jurisdictions — Routt County, Steamboat, Craig, Hayden, Yampa and Oak Creek, as well as Steamboat Resort — appointed an elected official (a non-elected, non-voting representative in the case of the resort) to a formation committee to create an intergovernmental agreement detailing how the RTA would work and the breadth of its taxing powers. 

Routt County, which Ray said would “represent the unincorporated areas of the county,” appointed Commissioner Sonja Macys to the committee. 

“When we start to look at things like park-and-rides, stations — who will have ownership of those properties?” asked Commissioner Tim Redmond following Ray’s presentation. “What would be the capital for maintenance upkeep? You think ‘park-and-rides,’ you think ‘repaving, stations need maintenance, operating budgets.'” 

Ray clarified that the RTA would have the authority to own and maintain properties, including park-and-rides, stations and office spaces. This responsibility would necessitate a sustainable funding source to support both operational and capital expenses.

The formation committee is still discussing various funding mechanisms, which could include a sales tax, motor vehicle registration fees, service fees and tolls, private contributions, and federal and state grants, said Ray. The potential sales tax would use the state model, meaning it couldn’t be applied to groceries or utilities, and if utilized, would generate an estimated $6.4 million in annual revenue for all jurisdictions combined. 

“Is there any concern about attaching the RTA to sales tax…when our main economic hub, Steamboat Springs, has been so visitor- and tourist-averse in the last five-ish years, post-pandemic, and we’ve started to see a decline in sales tax?” said Commissioner Angelica Salinas. 

“Steamboat Springs is very heavily sales-tax-reliant, and there’s been a lot of measures in place that are about not having as many people come here, which, great, I want to preserve this place as well,” Salinas continued, “but understanding that our local businesses need visitors in order to sustain themselves, the sales tax bucket that supports the general fund needs sales tax…so is there any concern about attaching yet another item on the back of sales tax, when we are seeing a decline and kind of a resistance to wanting more people here from the community?”

“I totally agree with you that sales tax is definitely on the decline. Last month it was [3.6%] less than the previous January…so with those tax numbers getting where they are, and we know that the community wants to manage tourism, it is a very risky endeavor to add the sales tax,” said Councilor Michael Buccino, who represents Steamboat Springs on the formation committee. “But…the people I’ve talked to that work behind the reception desk, bartenders, servers — I’ve asked them, ‘would you be up for a half-penny sales tax?’ And most of them said ‘yes’ enthusiastically, because they’re the ones that are going to use it the most.” 

“So they’re willing to do a regressive sales tax because they’ll be getting the direct benefit. It’s the others that have never ridden the bus that will be like, ‘oh, more taxing,'” Buccino added. “So we get that there’s a give and take on that, so we’re not sure where we’re going to land, but we’re hoping the polling will help us with that.” 

Commissioners discussed the possibility of incorporating a lift ticket tax to support the RTA, an option currently under negotiation with Steamboat Resort, which has already pledged a $1 million contribution. Macys emphasized the importance of ensuring that any lift ticket tax discussions do not undermine this initial commitment.

Buccino also said that he has received emails from members of the public questioning why the formation committee is opposed to a property tax. Craig City Councilor Randy Looper, representing Craig on the committee, pointed out that while Moffat County has a property tax, Craig does not, making it difficult to implement uniformly across all jurisdictions.

“Looking at the timeline, we’re doing all this public engagement in April, May, June, July, which I think is great. But we’re not going to know a lot of the final details until August,” said Salinas. “So there just seems to be a little bit of a disconnect of, we’re asking the public their thoughts, but there’s not [finalized] information in the [intergovernmental agreement]…How are we asking the public to engage when we don’t have all the details yet?”

“This process is very prescriptive…my opinion is when they wrote this law, which is actually a good law, they put the cart before the horse with these public hearings,” Ray answered. “We have to do these now to keep this process moving…we can’t move this [intergovernmental agreement] along without this. Now, there’s no reason we can’t do another round of public hearings on our own in July or August.”

Salinas acknowledged that while the current public hearings are mandated by state law, additional hearings and community outreach efforts may be necessary later in the process to ensure full transparency and gather public input.

Buccino underscored the need for comprehensive community education and engagement on the RTA, citing issues of “misinformation and lack of information” with the failed Brown Ranch campaign and the importance of not repeating that mistake. 

“I want the community to be part of this, the town halls, the dialogue. I don’t know if we’re going to put it on the ballot or not,” he said. “It looks like it — common sense tells you we should — but I want to hear from our community.” 

Both Routt County and Steamboat Springs will hold their second public hearings on a possible RTA on April 15, with the goal of passing a resolution on the intergovernmental agreement so that it can move forward.