California Trap
I have been watching the excessively rapid growth rate in Northern Colorado (Loveland particularly) for some time, and at the same time noting the unwillingness of the public to ante up tax dollars for infrastructure. Knowing that development does not pay for itself (Seidl & Greenwood studies), it has been easy to detect that financial and infrastructure problems are in the offing. This situation is all compounded by the fact that there is little State and virtually no Federal funds. From my point of view, these conditions are setting the stage for what I call the California Trap.
The reason the California situation is of interest, is the present population, and the population growth rate of the front range of Colorado is very similar to Southern California’s in the mid-80s.
In approaching this discussion, I should note, I am also making the assumption that most folks, like myself, would not prefer to live in Southern California. Colorado, as it is, is simply a better place. Living in a place like southern California, to me, is a down grade.
THE TRAP; The population of California has been expanding very rapidly for many years. California has always assumed that by developing more, more business and subdivisions, adequate funds could generated through taxes and fees to pay for the infrastructure.
In this country, and California, there is an expectation there will always be a certain amount of infrastructure per person. Now, of course, this may vary from place to place, but generally Americans expect minimum amounts of services. These include good schools, traffic management, police services, welfare, hospitals & medical care, recreational opportunities, etc. These amenities are paid for with taxes and fees that pass through State and Local governments. In high growth areas there is a tendency to rely on growth fees to pay for much of the new infrastructure ---because the growth is creating the need. The idea being that growth needs to pay its way. These could be impact fees, tap fees, user fees, and on and on.
Keep in mind, it is no secret “growth & development does not pay for itself”. The balance always has to be picked up by the tax payers. What happened in California was the electorate became tired of increasing taxes to pay for the growth, so in 1978, proposition 13 was passed, limiting the taxing ability of both State and Local governments. Through time, and with the population growing wildly, there was less and less money for infrastructure per person. During this time period, elected officials thought they could develop themselves out of their financial woes--more development equal more money. Growth , however does not pay its way. The entire problem became more compounded by the dot-com crash and job out-sourcing. In the last 10 years, California has continued to attempt to provide infrastructure for its growing population, but has not been able to raise the needed funds. California is now some $85 billion in debt---and growing. This debt has occurred despite federal bail-out money. Admittedly, it is not as if California has not made fundamental governing mistakes, such as creating a massive entitlement systems.
At this juncture, California is engulfed in a crisis where the amount of funds for infrastructure available per capita, has diminished to a point that is not acceptable to most Americans. Having recently been in the LA area , and watching nightly news, it is not difficult to notice the deterioration of their infrastructure. The roads are falling apart, hospitals are closing, schools are now the some of the worst in the nation, law enforcement is struggling, the environment is trashed, professional care individuals are leaving and the list goes on. Most Coloradoans would not consider southern California inhabitable. I’m not kidding. Two recent immigrants from California told me, my view of California was too kind!
The point of all this is, this is a lesson for us to watch. Is Colorado poised to make the same mistake? Remember, we have the same population and the same growth rate as southern California in the mid-80s.
I do believe there are some alarming signs that Coloradoans must heed. Colorado has the TABOR restrictions. This is a tax payers bill of rights that essentially says, in order to raise more taxes, and to incur more debt, there must be tax payer approval (similar to Prop. 13 in California). In the past, local and state governments could raise taxes without taxpayer’s votes. The TABOR provisions came about as a result of citizens feeling elected officials were getting carried away generating new debt and raising taxes. Tabor is a constitutional amendment. In this day and age, it is very difficult passing referendums to raise taxes, particularly if they appear to be connected to, and paying for, rapid growth (roads, jails). Most citizens seem to know growth doesn’t pay its way and that it should. Most citizens also are now listing rapid growth as their number one concern for our loss of quality of life. They don’t like the growth and they Really don’t want to pay for it. It is seen as another attempt at “corporate (developer) welfare”.
In any case, it is difficult to generate new taxes in Colorado. At the same time, we continue to grow at a very rapid rate--and the growth and development does not contribute enough money to pay for the needed improvements to infrastructure. Papers by Seidl and Greenwood have shown that locally, rural development pays only about one third of the total cost and urban growth pays approximately for one half. Therefore, the balance has to be picked up by fees and taxes from citizens. The citizens are refusing to pay. There is little State money. Federal funds are gone. Thus, the amount of money being spent per capita on infrastructure is dropping--and the quality of life goes down. This is the California Trap.
The entire situation is compounded by the misleading concept that we can develop more properties to help pay for the infrastructure deficit created by the last development. It is easy to see how this compounds itself until the level of service and availability of amenities begins to diminish. Thus, the lowering of the standard of living. The infrastructure deficit, or deferred projects, and tax liabilities, continues to grow. I see it as a form of deficit spending. Of course, the local developers are crying for more tax dollars. They want to continue making millions. In order to do this, they have to be given “developer welfare” in the form of tax dollars to pay for their infrastructure needs. In many cases, they call for the removal of TABOR so that they can get local city councils to generate more taxes. They will not have to go to the pesky citizens to get approval. It is seen as being easier to convince four council members to raise tax dollars then having to convince the entire public.
The entire growth paradigm is a scam. The public needs desperately to know about it. The front range of Colorado has already stepped into the trap. It is time for the public to step forward and slow the rapid growth.
There are numerous ways to slow it down before everything we love the best is gone.
1.Most importantly, growth must pay its way. The cost can be determined, and is known. Will this slow growth? Yes. Will there be some economic repercussions? Yes. We can live with it. It may be better to be little less affluent with a good quality of life, than affluent and have a poor quality of life. Growth must pay its way!
2. Make sure that every government entity and special district has an ADEQUATE PUBLIC FACILITY Ordinance. These provisions state if the facilities we all expect can not be provided, then growth must pay for it or growth must be slowed.
3. Elect public officials that are aware of the problem, and who know rapid growth will only take away everything we love the most. Do not elect individuals in the growth industry--they are blinded by money.
4. Deny subsidies to every aspect of the growth machine. Do not give them incentives, tax breaks, financial encouragement of any kind. Most business will benefit us little and only bring in more people to trample our trout streams, and crowd our streets. They will hire few local people and just attract more. The Anheuser-Busch project clearly demonstrated this. Many businesses will ultimately out-source their jobs to foreign countries, hire illegals(Wal-mart), or pay very low wages.
5. Deny money to large infrastructure projects that are meant to serve only growth. These projects will be paid for by you and are little more than “corporate welfare” again. This includes mega dams that are funded through Enterprise Funds. (Check other article on Mega Dams) These Funds are quietly set up to get you to pay for them----but the water is not for you.
5. Remember: Things were fine until the new growth showed up. You were able to survive comfortably. This is a still a delightful place. It does not have to changes as fast as they want. The jails are full not because of you, but because there are more people.
6. If you really like congested, polluted, over-populated cities, there are many from which to choose. Go there. Don’t bring it here.
Remember also. The traffic will never get better. The pollution will never get better. The congestion will not improve. Every year the nearest untrampled trout stream is farther away. This list goes on and on.
Lets not step any farther into the California Trap!
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