Colorado cities and towns struggle to maintain infrastructure

Colorado’s cities and towns are struggling to maintain the infrastructure needed to support basic needs of residents and businesses.

That’s the report form the Colorado Municipal League, which shows two-thirds of cities list street maintenance as a major budgetary challenge. Colorado Springs is no exception – the city has a backlog of street and bridge projects that total in the multi-millions of dollars.

Nearly half report that finding the dollars to maintain their water and wastewater infrastructure is a challenge.

The 2010 CML “State of our Cities and Towns” reveals a backlog of unfunded capital improvement projects – 50 percent report unfunded street projects; 24 percent need bridge projects; 33 say they need major repair or replacement of public buildings.

Municipalities don’t see things improving in 2012, with 30 percent of cities of cities and towns again cutting street maintenance and 58 deferring regular maintenance schedules across the board.

Adding to the decline of local revenue for capital projects is the continued loss of money from outside sources. State severance tax revenue designated to fund local projects needed to support the oil and gas industry – about $71 million in 2012 – continues to be diverted to support the state’s budget.

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