Colorado House Gives Initial OK To 'Crash Tax' Limits
DENVER (AP) - Unpopular "crash taxes," in which local governments charge out-of-town drivers who cause car accidents for emergency services, could be limited in Colorado.
A measure that won tentative approval in the Republican-led House Monday bans many cities from levying the taxes to recoup fire, ambulance and police costs by fining out-of-town drivers at fault for the accidents.
Denver considered crash fees last year. However, Denver officials decided against charging crash taxes after complaints that they would spark a tit-for-tat race among cities to fine each other's residents for basic services, such as police protection.
Golden is the only city in Colorado that levies crash taxes but only when city responders are called out of Golden to respond to accidents, not in-town wrecks, according to the Colorado Municipal League.
Still, Republican sponsors say the state Legislature should step in to make sure towns don't consider crash taxes to help pay for police and fire.
"It seems it would just encourage retaliation from other cities, until everybody's charging each other's residents and the taxes aren't doing much anyway," said the ban sponsor, Republican Rep. Spencer Swalm, of Centennial, in suburban Denver.
The ban was approved by the GOP-led House on a voice vote after a short debate. After a more-formal vote by the House, the measure heads to the Senate.
Democrats fought the ban Monday because it has been changed to apply only to certain cities.
The measure originally banned all local governments from levying crash taxes, but the bill was changed to include only Front Range cities, such as Denver, Boulder and Colorado Springs. Pueblo and the entire Western Slope were excluded from the crash tax ban but not smaller cities on the eastern side of the state, such as Greeley.
Democrats complained about revising the bill to pick which cities can't charge crash taxes.
"This is adding a layer of micromanagement that isn't necessary," said Rep. Roger Wilson, D-Glenwood Springs, which still would be allowed to charge crash taxes.
Swalm said small cities along Interstate 70 in western Colorado should be allowed to charge crash fees, because they have small budgets but can sometimes be called to respond to major interstate crashes.
However, a lobbyist for the Colorado Municipal League, Kevin Bommer, said the option should be left to all cities. He added that crash taxes are unpopular and have been rejected most places.
"This is a problem that does not exist in Colorado," Bommer said of crash taxes.
He added, "There are municipalities and special districts looking at some pretty serious cuts to police and fire and emergency services, and this bill would just take something off the table as they deal with that."
Crash taxes are being debated in other states, too, including California and New York. At least six states already ban local crash taxes.
- By Kristen Wyatt, AP Writer
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
