Balmurfan
January 31st, 2007, 06:54 PM
Just hours after advocates rallied Tuesday for political support of an East-West transit line in the Washington suburbs, transportation officials told lawmakers that the state has no funds for new transit projects.
Members of the House Ways and Means Committee received a briefing about the findings of a study group established to examine funding for mass transit. Transportation Secretary-designate John Porcari explained that with current system upkeep and planned new projects, there will be a shortfall of more than $13 billion for transit over the next 20 years unless lawmakers find new revenue for transportation.
The briefing followed a rally in front of the State House that featured Washington-area lawmakers pledging support for the Purple line, which would run from Bethesda to New Carrollton, linking several spokes of the Washington Metro system.
“It’s clear that in order to achieve our transit goals we are going to have to increase revenues,” Porcari said. “Today we have a very limited ability to add any new projects, and we know the needs are substantial.”
The projections include funding for “the big four” transit projects currently in various stages of planning. They include the Purple Line and the Corridor Cities Transitway, which would extend from Shady Grove out along the Interstate 270 corridor. The other two are in the Baltimore region, including the proposed East-West Red Line and the Blue Line, which would extend the city’s current Metro line.
Maryland is one of only two states funding two major Metro systems, and one of a few states with Metro systems that do not get funding help from the local jurisdictions that benefit from the systems, the study committee found. Meanwhile, Maryland’s transportation trust fund has a “built-in structural problem,” Porcari explained, because the revenues going into the fund do not increase with inflation, while the costs of project construction do.
This means that lawmakers must return every four to six years to inject more money into the fund.
The report laid out a list of possible funding sources to boost revenues to the transportation trust fund, though Porcari said the list is not exhaustive and the Maryland Department of Transportation is not advocating for any particular source.
Ideas include increasing the gasoline tax or the sales tax and dedicating the additional funds to transit. Officials could also tap into private dollars by creating public-private partnerships.
While Porcari declined to suggest how the legislature or governor should proceed, he said “it’s important not to lose any time. I think there is a sense of urgency.”
But there is doubt about whether there is enough political will to increase general fund revenue this year through taxes or other means, let along dedicated revenue for transit projects.
Majority Leader Kumar Barve, D-Montgomery, attended the rally in support of the Purple Line, telling those gathered “here today and now is the time to go forward with the Purple Line.”
But later, after attending the briefing, he said “I think we are going to have to spend a good year looking over the spending and taxation of the state” before thinking about a dedicated funding source for transit.
House Speaker Michael E. Busch, D-Anne Arundel, also seemed cool to the idea.
“It’s been talked about for years, and there’s never been a dedicated funding source,” he said.
Still the business communities in both the Washington suburban region and the Baltimore area want lawmakers to seriously consider the options available for transit funding. The Greater Baltimore Committee, in its legislative agenda, endorsed a new study committee to include members of the community, since only lawmakers comprised the panel that created the report presented Tuesday.
The Greater Washington Board of Trade, meanwhile, has repeatedly supported bills to create a dedicated funding source.
“This just confirms what we already know,” Andrew Scott, the board’s director of government relations, said of the report. “Last session we supported the sales tax bills, which would have used a portion of the existing tax to pay for transit. We supported the gas tax increase in the past, and would again.”
Members of the House Ways and Means Committee received a briefing about the findings of a study group established to examine funding for mass transit. Transportation Secretary-designate John Porcari explained that with current system upkeep and planned new projects, there will be a shortfall of more than $13 billion for transit over the next 20 years unless lawmakers find new revenue for transportation.
The briefing followed a rally in front of the State House that featured Washington-area lawmakers pledging support for the Purple line, which would run from Bethesda to New Carrollton, linking several spokes of the Washington Metro system.
“It’s clear that in order to achieve our transit goals we are going to have to increase revenues,” Porcari said. “Today we have a very limited ability to add any new projects, and we know the needs are substantial.”
The projections include funding for “the big four” transit projects currently in various stages of planning. They include the Purple Line and the Corridor Cities Transitway, which would extend from Shady Grove out along the Interstate 270 corridor. The other two are in the Baltimore region, including the proposed East-West Red Line and the Blue Line, which would extend the city’s current Metro line.
Maryland is one of only two states funding two major Metro systems, and one of a few states with Metro systems that do not get funding help from the local jurisdictions that benefit from the systems, the study committee found. Meanwhile, Maryland’s transportation trust fund has a “built-in structural problem,” Porcari explained, because the revenues going into the fund do not increase with inflation, while the costs of project construction do.
This means that lawmakers must return every four to six years to inject more money into the fund.
The report laid out a list of possible funding sources to boost revenues to the transportation trust fund, though Porcari said the list is not exhaustive and the Maryland Department of Transportation is not advocating for any particular source.
Ideas include increasing the gasoline tax or the sales tax and dedicating the additional funds to transit. Officials could also tap into private dollars by creating public-private partnerships.
While Porcari declined to suggest how the legislature or governor should proceed, he said “it’s important not to lose any time. I think there is a sense of urgency.”
But there is doubt about whether there is enough political will to increase general fund revenue this year through taxes or other means, let along dedicated revenue for transit projects.
Majority Leader Kumar Barve, D-Montgomery, attended the rally in support of the Purple Line, telling those gathered “here today and now is the time to go forward with the Purple Line.”
But later, after attending the briefing, he said “I think we are going to have to spend a good year looking over the spending and taxation of the state” before thinking about a dedicated funding source for transit.
House Speaker Michael E. Busch, D-Anne Arundel, also seemed cool to the idea.
“It’s been talked about for years, and there’s never been a dedicated funding source,” he said.
Still the business communities in both the Washington suburban region and the Baltimore area want lawmakers to seriously consider the options available for transit funding. The Greater Baltimore Committee, in its legislative agenda, endorsed a new study committee to include members of the community, since only lawmakers comprised the panel that created the report presented Tuesday.
The Greater Washington Board of Trade, meanwhile, has repeatedly supported bills to create a dedicated funding source.
“This just confirms what we already know,” Andrew Scott, the board’s director of government relations, said of the report. “Last session we supported the sales tax bills, which would have used a portion of the existing tax to pay for transit. We supported the gas tax increase in the past, and would again.”