RTD’s FasTracks – Timeline of a history of problems
December 11th, 2009
Denver area voters approved FasTracks TaxTracks in 2004 and since then the project has turned into a massive boondoggle. Costs have exploded, mismanagement runs rampant and RTD has been forced to cut parts of the project that were promised to the taxpayers.
Below is a partial list of events in the last two years or so of the project. Last update, April 14, 2010.
FasTracks Boondoggle Timeline
March 2007 – Before any construction had started at all, RTD announces that major changes will be required in the project to save money including cuts in service and lower capacity
May 2007 – RTD revisits the budget and says that the $4.7 billion project voters agreed to will now cost $6.1 billion
December 2007 – RTD says the Union Station expansion will cost $57 million more than planned. This comes on the heels of the district using eminent domain to steal property from the rightful owners.
January 2008 – The state legislature approves a quadrupling of RTD board member pay despite their mismanagement
April 2008 – The Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) sees the writing on the wall and warns of further cost increases in FasTracks. They criticize RTD for budgets that are too optimistic and its failure to complete the required environmental studies
May 2008 – Thornton City Council is warned by CDOT Commissioner Heather Barry that the north area is unlikely to get FasTracks
July 2008 – RTD finally concedes that it cannot deliver the project as promised to the voters
August 2008 – FasTracks program manager Liz Rao bails ship on the project and heads to the private sector
August 2008 – RTD says the project will now cost $7.9 billion, 68% more than what voters agreed
September 2008 – The RTD directors are “shocked” to learn of the FasTracks problems; it only took them a year and a half since news first broke to figure it out
October 2008 – RTD holds public meetings to solicit public opinion but then refuses to allow open forum discussion
October 2008 – The city of Aurora hires its own auditor, not believing RTD’s books
January 2009 – RTD releases the biased results of a survey saying taxpayers actually want to pay more for FasTracks
February 2009 – It is exposed the RTD board spent taxpayer money on “a trip to China, nights in a beachfront hotel and a dinner cruise. Records also indicate that members avoided RTD buses and light rail, opting instead to charge taxpayers for taxi rides and airport parking. Some of the spending may be in conflict with the board’s own policies.”
March 2009 – RTD has good news. Not really. They announce that project costs drop but revenue does as well thus resulting in a $2.1 billion budget shortfall
March 2009 – It is announced that RTD General Manager Cal Marsella whose base salary is already $290,286 would receive a 4.87 percent raise of $14,137 and a 12.5 percent bonus of $36,286
March 2009 – Parker Mayor David Casiano has the best quote seen yet about FasTracks: “RTD has now become the AIG of Colorado asking for a taxpayers’ bailout“
April 2009 – Cal Marsella bails ship and announces he is leaving. Good riddance, Cal! Don’t let that taxpayer funded door hit you in the you know what!
August 2009 – DRCOG returns with another analysis of FasTracks and they conclude that despite continued budget problems and repeated warnings about their overly optimistic expenses and income for the project, RTD continues to show they simply can’t do the math
November 2009 – RTD says that without a voter approved DOUBLING of the TaxTracks sales tax AND a $1 billion federal government grant bailout, RTD will only be able to build two of the six rail lines promised to voters
November 2009 – The North Area Transportation Alliance (NATA) releases a scathing report on FasTracks and RTD. The report says, FasTracks finances are “a product of management and policy failures of monumental proportions”
December 2009 – Some north metro area mayors representing cities along the US-36 corridor chicken out on endorsing the NATA report. Are they too worried about protecting their own interests instead of the taxpayer?
December 2009 – A special panel created by RTD to look at tax revenue forcasts for the FasTracks boondoggle says RTD once again blew the estimates. By their numbers, the project faces an additional $1 billion shortfall and likely even more that that.
March 2010 – RTD Director Noel Busck brags in the Northglenn-Thornton Sentinel about the great work RTD is doing – on FasTracks corridors other than the North Metro area. Thornton City Council flies to Washington D.C. to beg lawmakers to bail out the boondoggle.
March 2010 – As reported by the Denver Post, Colorado lawmakers are upset over the millions of dollars of compensation to be received by former RTD General Manager Cal Marsella. The compensation package hansomely rewarded Marsella for running the FasTracks project into the ground and then bailing while he could. The rich package had been approved by the RTD Board of Directors continuing to show how poorly managed RTD is. Legislators were rightfully indiginant about the money and yet they are the same ones that quadrupled the RTD board’s pay in recent years.
Denver Post: Too late to cut Marsella’s pay | Carroll: Marsella’s “excellent run”
April 2010 – A new survey performed for RTD shows that metro area voters are growing more disenchanted with the district and the FasTracks boondoggle. Three of the seven counties now show no support for a tax increase and a fourth is split evenly.
April 2010 – The RTD Board of Directors vote unanimously to delay asking voters for a doubling of the sales tax to bail out the FasTracks boondoggle. The board saw the public would not support such a measure and will wait until 2011 or 2012. In the meantime, north metro taxpayers will see their money go toward funding the construction of other corridors.
[...] Related: RTD’s FasTracks – Timeline of a history of problems [...]
[...] Adams County residents continue to see their money dumped into FasTracks while the county leadership sits idly by doing nothing to protect them (Timeline) [...]
[...] May 2007 to current – Adams County government continues to sit by and watch taxpayer money go to the FasTracks boondoggle. The writing was on the wall in May 2007 when the Regional Transportation District announced the FasTracks rail program would cost $1.4 billion more than promised. In the intervening years costs have risen and mismanagement of FasTracks runs rampant. The situation has gotten bad enough that north metro area residents will never see the rail system they are paying for without further tax increases. Adams County government has remained silent rather than stand up and defend its citizens. County commissioners continue to blindly support the project while doing nothing to ensure taxpayers get what they voted for. (Source) [...]
[...] FasTracks has become a total laughing stock since voters approved the ill-conceived and poorly managed project seven years ago. The list of issues goes on and on and on and just never seems to end. [...]
This is the first time I have visited this site and I will be sure to place it on my “Favorites” list.
I think that at least Tony has a handle on what is wrong with the entirety of the RTD serving the communities in and around the DRCOG Metro area. I have been looking for a summary of this data for almost a year. More than commenting, I have questions if anyone would so kind as to try and answer them or direct me to where I can find my own answers:
1. Is it true that almost 90% of the RTD’s expenses are paid with Federal grant and tax redistribution monies?
2. Is it true that, out of the remaining 10% of the annual spend, only 30% comes from fare-paying customers?
3. If the Federal govnernment doesn’t fund the completion of this monstrosity, where will the money come from? (I think the Stadium fund will be picked over like a four-day old turkey carcass after Thanksgiving by everyone in Denver.
4. How will all of those RTD pensions, with some drivers imitating their Greek counterparts and retiring at 54 years old, be funded?
5. Inrastructure isn’t just the tracks or roads. It is the Total System required to make things operate. No buses or light rail carriages, no service. Who is supposed to pay for them?
Thanks.