Less than a year after raising vehicle registration taxes by a quarter billion dollars annually, legislative Democrats in Denver raided $20 million of scarce highway funds to pay for operations in the Department of Motor Vehicles.
“The ruling party can’t seem to establish meaningful priorities,” said Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray. “Last year, funding roads and bridges were at the top of their list. This year they didn’t even blink before treating that pot of money as a slush fund to balance the state budget.”
Last year when Democrats approved the car registration tax increase, they did so based on the argument that the state needed additional revenues to fund critical road and bridge safety improvements.
“How can Bill Ritter and Democrats who voted for the vehicle registration increase honestly argue for more funding of structurally-deficient bridges, but then turn around and divert millions from those same structurally-deficient bridges?” Brophy said.
The proposal, House Bill 1387, which is being used as a budget balancing measure, also breaks with constitutional and statutory requirements dictating how revenue from Highway Users Tax Fund (HUTF) is to be spent. According to state law, HUTF money is specifically appropriated for the "construction, engineering, safety, reconstruction, improvement, repair, maintenance, and administration of the state highway system, the county highway systems, city street systems, and other public roads and highways of the state."