FoYVRTA

Steamboat Backs the RTA Measure, Craig Weighs In, Board Votes Aug 26

Craig Press

Three meetings discussing whether Yampa Valley voters get a say on regional transit funding this November. One is behind us. Two are ahead, and both take public comment.

Craig City Council takes up the ballot question tonight, Tuesday, August 25 at 5:30 p.m.

The YVRTA Board then votes tomorrow, Wednesday, August 26 at 4 p.m. on Zoom and in Hayden.

We encourage your supportive comments and participation at both.

Craig City Council Tonight

City Manager KC Hume will present the RTA ballot question for discussion, and council will give direction to Council member Randy Looper, who holds Craig's seat on the YVRTA board.

Council meets at Craig City Hall, 300 West 4th Street. There are two public comment periods, three minutes each, with a sign-up form at the meeting. The city livestreams on its Facebook page. Written and virtual comment closed at noon today, so this one is in person. Agenda and packet.

Steamboat City Council Last Friday

Steamboat Springs City Council held its special meeting Friday morning, and it was a thorough and productive discussion. Council moved to support the ballot measure as written.

The meeting was listed for direction and information rather than a binding vote. Councilor John Agosta and alternate Bryan Swintek asked for it so they would know where their colleagues stood before Wednesday. Now they do.

Wednesday, August 26

The YVRTA Board meets at 4 p.m. at Hayden Town Hall, 178 West Jefferson Avenue, with Zoom available. It is a special meeting with a short agenda: Resolution 2026-026, marked public comment required, and a discussion of a federal transit grant opportunity.

Join on Zoom, meeting ID 863 2091 6802, passcode 773807.

The RTA Resolution

The revenue estimate is filled in. Last week the figure was a bracketed placeholder while staff and the Authority's accountants worked up a real number. Colorado requires a first-year revenue estimate in the ballot title itself, so it had to be settled before certification, and it is.

The recitals grew. The latest shared version on Wednesday's agenda walks through the whole foundation: the formation committee the six governments created in December 2024, the public hearings each of them held, the November 2025 vote, and the intergovernmental agreement that vote approved.

It also reprints all eight service goals from Appendix C of that IGA. More buses on Highway 40 between Craig and Steamboat. A circulator route inside Craig. New service to south Routt, including Stagecoach, Oak Creek, and Yampa, and to unincorporated stretches of Highway 40 like Steamboat II and Heritage Park. Ground transportation to and from the airport. Better bus stops and first-and-last-mile connections. Park-and-ride lots. Pedestrian crossing safety. A seat at the table on commuter rail.

These service goals were negotiated by the six jurisdictions during formation and written into the intergovernmental agreement voters approved in 2025. Seeing them laid out again is a good reminder of the scope of what the authority has been asked to build, and they are worth a read before Wednesday.

The ballot question itself is unchanged from the draft we covered last week. A half-percent sales tax starting January 1, 2027, fifty cents on each one hundred dollars of taxable purchases, carrying the state's exemptions, so groceries and food for home consumption, gasoline and diesel, prescription drugs and medical equipment, and fuel for home heat and power all stay exempt.

In the News: Rail Money for the Western Slope

Colorado landed a $44 million federal grant last week for rail safety across the Western Slope, paired with $11 million from the state. The work includes rockfall protection through Byers Canyon, crossing safety improvements in Grand County, and six mobile hazardous materials and emergency response caches, one of them in Steamboat Springs.

This is safety work on the tracks we already have, not passenger service. But it is real money going into the corridor that runs through this valley. Corridors that get invested in are corridors that stay in the conversation.

Weigh In

Two rooms this week, and both of them are asking what residents think.

Tonight, 5:30 p.m., Craig City Hall. Sign up at the meeting, or watch the livestream.
Wednesday, 4 p.m., Hayden Town Hall or on Zoom. Public comment is required on the resolution.

Feel welcome to reply to this newsletter and we will make sure your thoughts reach the table.

In November 2025 this valley voted 81% to build something together. Wednesday the board decides whether to ask us how to pay for it.