RTD Won't Seek Tax Increase

DENVER (AP) - The Denver-area mass-transit district has decided not to ask voters for a sales tax increase in November.

The Regional Transportation District board voted 13-1 on Tuesday against putting the 0.4 percent increase on the ballot. The Denver Post reports that political consultants had warned it would likely be defeated.

RTD had said the increase could generate about $160 million a year. The money would have gone toward FasTracks, an ambitious rail and bus expansion project.

RTD has said that without the increase, it could take until 2042 to completion some FasTracks components.

They include the full length of a commuter train route to north Adams county, a commuter train route from south Westminster through Boulder to Longmont and most of a light-rail line in the Interstate 225 corridor in Aurora.

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