An initiative headed to next November’s ballot would lop off the second-largest current source of Colorado’s road funding to nearly one-fourth of its current level and eliminate the newly imposed bridge replacement and road repair fees of the FASTER program.

If it had been in effect in 2009, Proposition 101 would have eliminated $134.4 million, more than 17 percent, of the Highway Users Tax Fund from which the Colorado Department of Transportation, the state’s 64 counties and its municipalities receive funding for street and highway maintenance and construction.

The ballot measure mandates cutting the annual auto registration fee to $10, among other things. The fee is the second-largest component of the HUTF, exceeded only by the state gas tax. Together, the gas tax and auto registration fees make up 93 percent of the HUTF.

When adding in the ballot measure’s elimination of the new FASTER fees, which are projected to raise an additional $250 million a year starting in 2011-12 for replacement of unsafe bridges and road repairs, Proposition 101 would take at least $380 million a year from the annual road programs of Colorado’s cities, counties and the state.

And that is exactly the purpose, according to the sponsors of the ballot measure, Kersey resident Jeff Gross and Greenwood Village lobbyist Freda Poundstone. They titled it “Reducing Government Charges.”

The reductions would act like opening the drain on the pool of highway funding at a time when deferred maintenance needs and a backlog of construction projects has planners estimating another $1.5 billion a year is needed to catch up.

Proposition 101 asks voters to make substantial reductions in a range of taxes and fees, including the state income tax. Among its provisions, it would change the current variable schedule of auto registration fees based on its type and weight, and instead levy a flat fee of $10 regardless of weight.

Vehicle weight is a prime component in the amount of wear and tear it inflicts on road surfaces and structures.

As for slashing of the auto registration fee, the effect varies by vehicle. I’ll use my own case as an illustration. I drive a 2003 Chevy Malibu. A few months ago, I paid a license fee of $61.67 and FASTER fees of $32, for a total of $93.67 toward state, county and local road maintenance.

Combine that with my gas tax. I fill up about every 10 days or so, and figure I buy about 435 gallons of gas per year. At Colorado’s gas tax rate of 22 cents per gallon, that means I pay an estimated $95.70 into the HUTF through the gas tax.

My total user fees for the use of the city and state roads all year: $189.37.

Under Proposition 101, my license fee would be cut from $93.67 to $10. Assuming I used the same amount of gas, my total payments for the use of the street and highway system per year would be cut to $105.70 – a 44-percent reduction.

How far does that go? My annual payment for the use of Colorado’s road network all year would cover 6½ feet of metal guardrail, at 2008 prices quoted by CDOT. Or it would cover six feet of concrete curb and gutter. Or repair a single three-by-four-foot pothole.

In addition to cutting the state income tax to three-fourths of its current level and cutting vehicle registration fees, Proposition 101 also sets vehicle ownership taxes at $1 a year for older cars and $2 a year for new ones. Those ownership taxes, now set at a decreasing percentage of sales value that goes down year by year, go to local school and government services, not to roads.

The ballot measure also eliminates all fees and charges on telecommunications services such as local telephone, cable, satellite and internet, except for charges that fund the 911 emergency service.

In fiscal year 2009, Colorado collected $180.9 million in vehicle registration and license fees, a drop from $185.3 million in 2008. It was the lowest amount in four years.

The largest component of the HUTF is the gas tax, which in 2009 brought in $539.9 million. That is also a shrinking source of highway funding. In 2008, the state gas tax raised $577.4 million. That is a drop of 6.5 percent in 2009. In fact, gas tax revenue in 2009 was lower than in any other year this decade except 2001.

You can look at a long-term history of HUTF revenues from 1992 through 2009 here.