Colorado Springs mayor considering extending tax to fix roads

Colorado Springs mayor, John Suthers, met with a group of commissioners working on the 2C project for a quarterly progress meeting.

As the five-year mark creeps up on city officials, they're hoping to extend the project for another five years in order to continue repairs on local roads.

“Look at the progress we’ve made. Look at what still needs to be done. The fact of the matter is even though we’ve made progress you don’t have to look very hard to see there’s a lot of roads that still need to be paved and with a 5 year renewal we will have completed over a third of the roads in Colorado Springs repaved under 2C," said Mayor Suthers.

According to the mayor if the project is extended the sales tax would be reduced about 0.05%. Right now taxpayers pay 0.62% in taxes. Due to a recent improvement in the economy, the mayor says we would still be raising around the same amount every year for road work.

The original plan was that sales tax would increase and the funds would amount to 50 million dollars each year. All of those funds would go directly toward road repairs.

Colorado Springs voters approved a sales tax increase for road improvements in 2015.

The mayor says the road improvements over the last four years is proof the city is keeping their promise and improving our infrastructure. Mayor Suthers wants the community to look at the big picture and the work that has already been done. Considering all of that work plus the work that could be done in the coming 5 years, the mayor says our roads could be miles better than they are.

With the extension, the mayor says they will finish repairing major roads and move onto more residential areas. He wants people to know roads will get better and to be patient with the construction process.

“Anybody who thinks that the cones are going to go away any time soon, that’s not going to happen. But, I ask people to be patient and view this as we’re finally getting up to snuff in terms of our public infrastructure and it’s going to be well worth the inconvenience," Suthers said.

Voters will have a chance to vote on this matter on the November ballot.