The intergovernmental agreement is being drafted by two committees currently, and can be adjusted until a question for an RTA is sent to voters.
Two committees are currently working on an intergovernmental agreement for a regional transportation authority in the Yampa Valley, which is scheduled to be considered for “soft approval” by member communities in March and April.
A formation committee of elected officials and a technical committee of staff members are working on the agreement, with the latter working to create a general service plan for a Yampa Valley Transportation Authority. The formation committee will eventually make a recommendation to Steamboat Springs City Council and other participating jurisdictions on potential funding options.
“Of course, people are going to say yes to an RTA, we’ve already seen that come through,” said Council member Amy Dickson last week. “It’s the funding question that folks are getting hung up on.”
Talk of an RTA has been buzzing for nearly two decades, with more serious talks building in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic. There are still a variety of key questions to be answered, including what routes and level of service an RTA would provide and how it could be paid for. While momentum is currently headed toward a ballot question to establish and fund an RTA during the November 2025 election, it’s possible funding questions could be asked later years.
A RTA is seen by officials as a way to ease traffic on U.S. Highway 40, reduce the area’s carbon footprint by getting people out of their cars and address increased housing costs by making it easier to live in communities outside of Steamboat Springs. Potential member jurisdictions include Routt County, Steamboat Springs, Craig, Hayden, Oak Creek and Yampa.
If given that soft approval over the coming weeks, the intergovernmental agreement will then be sent to neighboring jurisdictions like Eagle and Moffat counties and the Colorado Department of Transportation for a 180-day comment window. Still, Bill Ray, a consultant working to facilitate RTA talks, said the intergovernmental agreement can be adjusted throughout to the process until a question is sent to the ballot.
“The resolution that you are going to consider as part of this process in March and April is basically, for lack of a better way to explain it, a soft approval,” Ray said. “It does not equate to final approval and it is not your last opportunity to review and make edits to the IGA. That will happen sometime in August.”
Council member Michael Buccino, who is representing the city as chair of the formation committee, said having initial approval in April gives officials a “nice long runway” to do outreach before a vote — outreach that he has already started on his own.
“We don’t know what is palatable to our electorate, and it’s really going to be determined on polling,” Buccino said, regarding how to approach funding. “That’s when we are going to determine what is palatable to our electorate. Not Craig, not Oak Creek, but what does Steamboat want to do.”
“Once we get that polling, that should help guide our decision as the formation [committee], which will then be a recommendation to each jurisdiction,” Buccino continued.
Buccino has floated the idea of a half-cent sales tax in Steamboat to help fund an RTA, an idea The Yampa Valley Bugle reported on Jan. 30. After that story, Buccino was criticized by some of his peers on Council and by Routt County commissioners for floating the half-cent sales tax idea ahead of funding discussions by the formation committee.
“There has been no official position taken, in terms of any kind of funding mechanism,” Council President Gail Garey said at a joint meeting with the Routt County Commissioners on Feb. 3.
“Releasing that information as if it had been decided on by the formation committee, I think has created a significant amount of confusion,” Commissioner Sonja Macys said at the Feb. 3 meeting.
(Note: The initial Bugle story on Buccino’s idea incorrectly referred to how a sales tax for an RTA would be applied to groceries — An RTA tax would be applied in accordance with state law, and would not impact items like groceries. That story has been corrected.)
On Tuesday, Buccino said he believes some options need to be thrown out there, but that polling will inform decisions at the formation committee. That polling will cost between $20,000 and $50,000, he said.
“We’re really going to lean heavily on this polling because that is really going to determine the temperature of what our constituents want to go for,” Buccino said.
If brought in November, an RTA funding question could be asked on the same ballot as another funding question in Steamboat Springs, as council seeks to diversify city revenues. Council’s goals for 2025, which were officially adopted this month, include evaluating the potential for a vacancy tax, lift tax or impact fees to help diversify revenues, as well as pursuing dedicated funding for the city’s bus service.
“I think it’s really important that the polling needs to include how our residents feel about having potentially two taxes on the ballot in November,” Dickson said.
Council member Dakotah McGinlay said she has received feedback locally questioning why Steamboat Springs should shoulder most of the financial burden for an RTA, while still operating its own Steamboat Springs Transit service.
“This community member was talking about why should Steamboat Springs be paying a higher tax, why not make it a county-wide tax, because it would be an improvement for the whole county and it wouldn’t necessarily improve the local bus service lines,” McGinlay said. “How do we go about that argument?”
“I’m on these calls and I totally hear what you are saying of, why would we be paying more when it doesn’t directly benefit the city? That’s one of the things that’s on my radar,” said Council member Bryan Swintek. “That is one of the things that I’m trying to keep and ear out as it develops.”
“I understand the benefits of having a regional transportation authority, I think there are parts of our community that are struggling, when we do also need funding for our local transit,” McGinlay said.