Transit service tax is derailed

For Brad Patterson, manager of Greeley Transit Services, the fact that ballot issue 2B lost was not a complete surprise.

The proposal, which asked for a tax increase of .25 of a percent to pay for improvements in the city's bus system, received only 41 percent of the vote in Tuesday's election.

The question received endorsements from nearly 20 community groups and organizations, but the voters turned down the tax increase.

The city's transit services asked the Greeley City Council earlier this year to place the question on the ballot because the department was concerned with the possible loss of federal funding. When the U.S. Census is compiled in 2010, the Greeley bus service could be forced to become part of the Fort Collins/Loveland Transportation Management Area. The federal government expects the areas to support their own public transportation system.

Patterson said he was still optimistic about the ballot question, though, "because it didn't go down by a big percentage. We received about 40 percent of the vote, which shows we've raised the profile of transportation issues." He said that the funding problem must be solved by the next census, and that he wouldn't rule out trying to run the question again.

Patterson said he realizes that money is tight now and that the voters are against most tax increases. "We want to thank (city councilwoman) Debbie Pilch and the others who worked so hard for this issue," Patterson said. "We know they wanted it to pass, but we need to be thankful the question didn't bomb. We got more than 40 percent of the vote."

What's next

City Manager Roy Otto said the city will look again at the transportation issues. "We still would like to discuss combining our bus system with other cities." It would include Loveland, Fort Collins and Greeley into one bus system."