TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE |
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December 1999 / January
2000
Transportation Blueprint for the 21st Century
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 A year of analysis, countless staff presentations to congestion management
agencies and other partner organizations, community meetings in all nine counties, and
ongoing internal discussions have gone into refining MTC's Transportation Blueprint for the
21st Century.
In pursuit of the Blueprint, planners have been taking a fresh look at the fraying fabric of the Bay Area's transportation network and suggesting ways to mend and augment it -- from new rail lines to highway improvements to a regionwide network of express buses. How many of the projects will emerge as real contenders, however, depends not only on local players but also on legislators in Sacramento ensuring that there's money to pay for whatever options are selected. In the second part of this two-part series, we examine the prospects for financing the region's urgent transportation priorities. A hot topic in the state Legislature in 1999, funding is likely to remain on the front burner in the current year. Key among the transportation funding bills that were unsuccessful last time around and expected to be re-introduced in this session is one that would make it easier for local jurisdictions to finance transportation projects through new or extended county sales tax measures. Although currently there is a state budget surplus, and more federal money has been available recently than in the past, the region faces a future in which fewer resources are at hand to underwrite growing transportation needs. "Just as the counties' sales taxes are expiring, the amount of money needed to rehabilitate our aging infrastructure is increasing," said MTC Deputy Executive Director Steve Heminger. "We're living off the investments in transportation made by our parents and grandparents, and not doing anything for our kids." Prospects for additional moneys for transportation seemed to look up when Gov. Gray Davis unveiled his $88 billion state budget proposal for fiscal year 2000-01, designating $7.5 billion for transportation purposes, $3 billion of which he described as new funds. He also singled out several rail projects serving Silicon Valley that would benefit from extra general tax revenue generated by the state's strong economy. While the largesse from the state's General Fund is good news, MTC's Heminger noted that the reported $3 billion in "new" gas tax money would be generated simply by lengthening the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) from four years to seven, thereby tapping into already expected revenues. Keeping Projects Moving
The governor's "transportation initiative," as unveiled in the budget, proposed tighter deadlines and potential penalties for local agencies that fail to spend federal transportation dollars quickly. His assertion that such agencies would forfeit the money to the state -- an amount he pegged at $1.7 billion -- made newspaper headlines. "We agree that projects need to be completed in a timely fashion," said Therese McMillan, MTC's manager of Funding and External Affairs. "AB 1012 addresses just that issue. We need to give the bill a chance to work." Clearing the Way for Local Initiatives
Complicating the passage of SCA 3 in the new legislative session, however, is the governor's statement in January that he would oppose the bill as currently written. MTC's Heminger said, "It doesn't sound like he is shutting the door. If he wants to suggest changes to the measure, that leaves the door open." SCA 3 is, in fact, the centerpiece of MTC's legislative agenda for the coming year. "MTC is an active participant in the growing statewide coalition to push SCA 3 forward in 2000," said Heminger. The coalition includes the League of California Cities and the California State Association of Counties, as well as numerous business groups and, perhaps most notably, the California Taxpayers Association. In the five Bay Area counties that already have half-cent sales taxes for transportation in place, annual sales tax revenues currently exceed each county's base share of state and federal money from the STIP (see graph below). Unless these sales taxes are renewed by voters, however, all would expire by 2010. "It will be important for congestion management agencies, cities and counties to let their representatives in Sacramento know that a funding mechanism to allow local voters the option to tax themselves is needed as soon as possible," said MTC's McMillan. Refining the Blueprint
Another way to look at Blueprint projects would be through the lens of specific desired policy outcomes for the region as a whole, such as reducing the maintenance shortfall for local streets and roads, and improving regional transit coordination. Still another approach would be to narrow the scope of the Blueprint to a discrete set of promising projects that are agreed upon through regional consensus. In order to help determine the final shape of the Blueprint, MTC is launching a telephone poll in February and surveying local officials, augmenting the comments it has already received from the region's transportation-related agencies and the public. A comprehensive report is expected to be issued in April. "We need to be ready with a regional plan for putting available moneys to their best
use, whatever legislation comes out of this session of the state Legislature that would
help pay for our critical transportation needs," said MTC's McMillan.
Contents
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