Miami-Dade cannot afford two-thirds of Metrorail projects promised to voters

[logybogy]

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald...l/10546246.htm

HERALD WATCHDOG METRORAIL

Transit taxes can't meet pledge

The 2002 sales-tax-fortransit campaign promised an expansion of Metrorail, but recent financial analyses show there isn't enough money for most of the project. Miami-Dade leaders are trying to come up with fixes.

BY LARRY LEBOWITZ

llebowitz@herald.com

Miami-Dade Transit cannot afford to build, operate and maintain two-thirds of the Metrorail corridors promised to voters when they approved a half-cent sales tax in 2002, according to internal financial analyses obtained by The Herald.

The revised projections still call for three extensions to the original Metrorail line. But the latest forecasts contain no money for the six other corridors, costing an estimated $3.5 billion. Among them: a connection between downtown and the airport, the Bay Link streetcar between Miami and South Beach and trains to Aventura and Florida City.

''They definitely overpromised, and now all of us are going to have to come together and tell the citizens exactly what we can and can't do with the tax,'' said Marc Buoniconti, chairman of the Citizens Independent Transportation Trust, the watchdog group overseeing the program.

The main reasons: fewer prospects for federal money than forecast; an existing deficit not discussed during the campaign; declining fare revenue; and several expensive programs that county commissioners added to the plan.

The latest estimates set the stage for a series of tough policy decisions -- and potentially embarrassing revelations for former Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas and others who sold the sales tax to voters.

County Manager George Burgess, who inherited the problems, is moving to fix the historic funding woes at Transit and buttress support for the remaining projects. He was not involved in the 2002 tax campaign.

''We probably would have designed it differently and presented it differently,'' Burgess said of the 2002 campaign. ``Absolutely. But we can make this work.''

The emerging transit picture is different from the promised ``New Money, New Projects.''

A NEW PLAN

Controversial proposal would settle old debts

Earlier this week, the Citizens Independent Transportation Trust ratified a controversial Burgess plan that will allow Transit to spend more than $180 million in sales-tax proceeds over six years to settle old deficits, pay debt service on buses purchased before the election and cover other operations.

''This isn't what I voted for,'' Martin Nash, an 83-year-old Kendale Lakes ad executive said after the trust's vote. ``When people start to hear about this, . . . I think this could start a major uprising.''

The new projections estimate that the county can afford three Metrorail projects with a cumulative price tag of $2.3 billion: a two-mile spur from the Earlington Heights station to the airport; a 10-mile east-west segment from the airport to Florida International University; and a nine-mile north corridor along Northwest 27th Avenue.

The six corridors now on hold are the Bay Link streetcar connecting downtown Miami with South Beach; an east-west segment between downtown and the airport; a Kendall express-bus route; and trains from downtown to Aventura, along the expanding Busway to Florida City, and from Coral Gables to the airport.

WHAT WENT WRONG

Faulty forecasts, added amenities derail project

According to dozens of interviews and a review of county records and projections, here is what happened:

• County officials, including former Transit Director Danny Alvarez and former County Manager Steve Shiver, presented unrealistic forecasts in July 2002 that persuaded commissioners to put the tax on the ballot.

Current officials say Alvarez and Shiver overstated the amount of matching federal dollars that Transit could qualify for and failed to point out operating deficits that would have exploded once the lines were built.

Alvarez, who resigned in 2003, said he and Shiver are convenient scapegoats after leaving County Hall. He said that administrators and elected officials knew that they couldn't deliver on all of the corridors promised in the campaign, but that nobody chose to lead.

''They knew the situation,'' Alvarez said. ``They knew that we couldn't build more than two lines at a time with the federal funding situation. I told them . . . in July of 2003 that they were going to have to prioritize which lines went first and which would come later. To say now that we didn't tell them the situation with the federal funding just isn't true.''

Shiver and Penelas could not be reached.

• After the election, county staff members and commissioners folded several big-ticket items into the 30-year spending plan that were never approved by the voters -- including $55 million toward a contract to provide special rides for the disabled and $211 million to rehabilitate trains. This left less money for rail projects.

• Nobody accurately predicted a drop in farebox collections despite hundreds of new and expanded routes.

Systemwide, Transit boardings are up by eight million a year since the tax passed. Transit Director Roosevelt Bradley estimates that 5.5 million to six million of those new boardings are by seniors riding for free on the Golden Passport, previously limited to the low-income elderly.

Analysts are estimating that the free-ride program will cost $6.8 million in 2005.

OLD PROBLEMS

Year after year,

one-time fixes were used

Many of the current problems have been percolating for decades.

Prior to the 2002 election, Miami-Dade Transit had no dedicated funding source, and its revenue from property taxes did not come close to keeping pace with countywide budget growth. Year after year, Transit directors were forced to find one-time fixes to solve persistent shortfalls.

In the late 1990s, Alvarez tried a tactic that had generated big one-time revenues for other transit agencies: selling the rail guideways to private investors and then leasing them back. But no investors emerged.

Just five weeks before the election, Transit ended fiscal 2002 with an $18 million deficit.

Like several Transit directors before him, Alvarez used federal capital-improvement grants from the upcoming year to close the books.

Alvarez said the 2001-02 deficit was settled routinely and in accordance with federal guidelines. Nothing was done to hide the deficit, he said.

But now, county officials are repaying that preelection deficit with sales taxes -- to the surprise of some people who campaigned for the tax.

`SICKENING SHOCK'

Presentation to public

differed from reality

''Each of the revelations is a new, sickening shock to each of us who presented this to the public, but did not know the truth,'' said political advisor Ric Katz, who helped develop the campaign for Penelas.

``If I had known, we wouldn't have pushed forward with these things this way.''

Surface Transportation Manager Carlos Bonzon says Transit should have cut service rather than run deficits. With the new tax in place, the agency can no longer turn to quick fixes, he said.

In August, Bonzon told the transportation trust that Transit not only must settle the old deficits with sales taxes but needs to use more tax proceeds to cover debt payments on buses purchased before the election.

Bonzon, who became the chief transportation administrator in September 2003, quickly discovered two serious flaws with the 2002 campaign.

The ordinance that created the tax was worded in a way that required only a $111.8 million annual contribution from general-fund revenues to maintain preexisting services. Nobody factored in rising personnel costs or fleet replacement.

REMEDIES SOUGHT

Sales-tax proceeds

will pay old bills

Burgess and Bonzon say they have stepped up on this part of the issue.

In December 2003, Burgess told commissioners that he was committing the county to 3.5 percent annual increases in the general-fund contribution to Transit, plus a 1.5 percent annual increase in gasoline taxes, over the next 30 years.

But during 2004, they realized that the numbers still didn't work because of the old deficits, the new projects that commissioners added, declining fare revenues and a $10 million cut in Transit general-fund revenue just days after the tax passed.

So last week, after months of debate, Burgess and Bonzon persuaded the transportation trust to let the county use $183 million in sales-tax proceeds over the next six years for the old deficits and potential operating shortfalls.

For 18 months, trust members had resisted using any sales-tax money for ''old'' services. But Bonzon and Burgess say the trust needs to view the sales tax as one of several revenue sources supporting a unified transit system.

After several tense talks between county staff members and trust leaders, Burgess offered to bump the general-fund contribution to Transit by $2 million over the already approved 2005 budget.

PROMISE BROKEN

Burgess deal `isn't what

we sold to the voters'

But critics say the deal still breaks the fundamental promise of the ''New Money, New Projects'' campaign.

''It may be an economic necessity today, but it isn't what we sold to the voters,'' Katz said.

Burgess defends the moves as a responsible way to use the tax to build a fiscally sound transit system that one day could feature trains reaching all corners of the community.

''We have three corridors in this [plan], and a fourth [still to be prioritized] will be under construction in 2034,'' Burgess said.

``If we're building during every year of this program, wouldn't we consider that a success? I think that would be a monumental success, not a failure.''

[nimbyhater]

woo hoo... conctruction will start somewhere around 2034, nearing retirement, and wont traffic b great by then... yet again dade county screwing over the citizen, tellin em one thing, then using it for something else, did any1 actually expect anything less?

[Dale]

This is just the kind of revelation that can *and should* cause South Floridians to think twice about all the referenda they're approving these days.

[jzquince69]

I say scrap the south beach line. Instead, get the MIA to Earlington Heights line done; get the MIC in high gear. Then, promote a couple of more hotels built around dadeland and downtown that are accessible by metrorail. Then, more ridership will occur to add into the mix. Then, do the other lines as needed- BUT, the MIA line is crucial for starters. figure out the others later.

[Lakelander]

I say get this thing expanded to the airport and Miami Beach immediately, since they will most likely bring the most ridership. Then work on the rest, as funding becomes available.

[ChuckScraperMiami#1]

Originally Posted by jzquince69

I say scrap the south beach line. Instead, get the MIA to Earlington Heights line done; get the MIC in high gear. Then, promote a couple of more hotels built around dadeland and downtown that are accessible by metrorail. Then, more ridership will occur to add into the mix. Then, do the other lines as needed- BUT, the MIA line is crucial for starters. figure out the others later.

JZ IS RIGHT !!!, THE M-I-C, K-E-Y,( KEY ) ROUTE of METRORAIL from the Earlington HEIGHTS STATION to the 4 BILLION PLUS MIC CORE Already UNDER Construction EAST of the AIRPORT Between N.W. 25th Street And N.W. 21st Street, East of LEJUENE RD. and WEST of N.W. 37th AVE, WILL BE DONE IN 2008 ON TIME.
THE TURNER Construction Company Building the PROJECT is Ahead of Schedule and THE STEEL BEAMS are on their way to the PROJECT to Go up THIS YEAR 2005 on the 20,000 Car Rental 4 STORY GARAGE, and the NEW TRI-RAIL Station With the NEW AIRPORT METRORAIL Station IN ITS PLACE Ready for Opening at the END of 2008. THIS WILL HAPPEN, and The NEW Roadway Leading from BOTH Expressways S.R. 836 and S.R.112 TO the MIC CORE will Also be COMPLETED by 2010 AS Schedule.
PART Of ONE Roadway is Almost Completed FEEDING onto the S.R. 836 FOR THE FUTURE , which is Under Construction Just NORTH of the S.R. 836 and JUST WEST of LEJUENE RD. To GO Directly INTO the MIC CORE OVER N.W. 21st Street INTERCHANGE at the Entrance to MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. This is Going to be a HUGE PROJECT when Completed by 2010. Only 5 More Years !!!

[Lakelander]

Does anyone have a map or diagram showing the proposed Earlington Heights station to the airport route?

[VansTripp]

Miami must blame on Geroge Bush about not give enough money for metrorail extansion. I can't until Geroge Bush go away so USA will be much better.

[Dale]

Originally Posted by Blink182

Miami must blame on Geroge Bush about not give enough money for metrorail extansion. I can't until Geroge Bush go away so USA will be much better.

Yes, if only John Kerry had been elected we'd all have jobs (maybe two), every city would have a metrorail, and gas stations would never serve weak coffee.

[VansTripp]

Originally Posted by Dale

Yes, if only John Kerry had been elected we'd all have jobs (maybe two), every city would have a metrorail, and gas stations would never serve weak coffee.

Yeah, In Los Angeles have same problem about subway extension, that can carrying passenger from LA Downtown to Fairfax, Beverly Hills or West Los Angeles, it can be Santa Monica. Bush sent less cash for our LA light rail extension for Gold Line and Expo Line, we are not happy about it. Arnold the California governor will going help with problem in LA. LA collects alot of money from differnet kind of taxes. In 2008, I hope it will no longer to have republican in US so just Clinton's wife can become first woman predisent. California or South Florida become much improve.

Bush was lie about gas price, he make CA become 1st higher gas price cuz he sent less cash on Gasoline Company in CA. Californian become complain and on gasoline strike. If it equal, Texas must become 1st high gas price around 2008, after Clinton's wife won the election. She will treat CA so well.

If not better so I would move to other country like Austrailia or Japan.

[Dale]

Originally Posted by Blink182

Yeah, In Los Angeles have same problem about subway extension, that can carrying passenger from LA Downtown to Fairfax, Beverly Hills or West Los Angeles, it can be Santa Monica. Bush sent less cash for our LA light rail extension for Gold Line and Expo Line, we are not happy about it. Arnold the California governor will going help with problem in LA. LA collects alot of money from differnet kind of taxes. In 2008, I hope it will no longer to have republican in US so just Clinton's wife can become first woman predisent. California or South Florida become much improve.

Bush was lie about gas price, he make CA become 1st higher gas price cuz he sent less cash on Gasoline Company in CA. Californian become complain and on gasoline strike. If it equal, Texas must become 1st high gas price around 2008, after Clinton's wife won the election. She will treat CA so well.

If not better so I would move to other country like Austrailia or Japan.

Well, in Australia you have Bushbabies. And in Japan you have Bushido.

Maybe you should try Finland instead.

[nimbyhater]

Originally Posted by Blink182

Yeah, In Los Angeles have same problem about subway extension, that can carrying passenger from LA Downtown to Fairfax, Beverly Hills or West Los Angeles, it can be Santa Monica. Bush sent less cash for our LA light rail extension for Gold Line and Expo Line, we are not happy about it. Arnold the California governor will going help with problem in LA. LA collects alot of money from differnet kind of taxes. In 2008, I hope it will no longer to have republican in US so just Clinton's wife can become first woman predisent. California or South Florida become much improve.

Bush was lie about gas price, he make CA become 1st higher gas price cuz he sent less cash on Gasoline Company in CA. Californian become complain and on gasoline strike. If it equal, Texas must become 1st high gas price around 2008, after Clinton's wife won the election. She will treat CA so well.

If not better so I would move to other country like Austrailia or Japan.

ur a fukin moron blink... i understand that alotta people dont luv bush as our president... but ur tellin me that gas prices in california are solely his fault as our ur cities budget problems... as much as i want every person in america to be able to give up their car, i would rather have more crucial things like the security of our nation fully funded first... i guess thats just me tho

aite, now lets have the liberals come out and bash me... i suspect uptown will b first

p.s god help the us if hillary is every president... it wont ever hapn in 2008 neways, nation wont vote a woman president in... i assure u... as much as i hate to say it lots of ignorant retards that just wont let it hapn... as for me, i could care less if shes a woman, or black, or an alien for that matter... i just dont want that liberal bitch drivin our country to hell

[Dale]

I've got your back, nimby.

[SkyDiveJunkee]

OK I really think its time for everyone to cut the conservative/liberal crap on this forum, because you guys all suck. Get back to cities.

[nimbyhater]

skydives rite, sry guys, aite, i promise to never mention politics again... and resist the urge to rebutt my statements... however wrong u may think i am, cause i lack the will power to not respond to yours, lol

[Aessotariq]

Originally Posted by Lakelander

Does anyone have a map or diagram showing the proposed Earlington Heights station to the airport route?

Here are the proposed projects (blue is existing line, green is Tri-Rail):


The Earlington Heights connector will be a short two-mile branch line that will connect the MIC to the existing Metrorail line, providing a connection to downtown from the Airport (via the MIC) for the first time, until the east-west line is completed. It's the L-shaped orange line above the MIC in the diagram below. It would also be the first piece of a future north-south line.

Connector zoomed in:


The red loop that goes between the MIC and the Airport is the MIC-MIA Connector, a people mover line that will connect the terminal to MIC's Consolidated Rental Car Facility and the ground transportation terminal.

Miami-Dade County, Earlington Heights-MIC Connector project status

[Dale]

Originally Posted by SkyDiveJunkee

OK I really think its time for everyone to cut the conservative/liberal crap on this forum, because you guys all suck. Get back to cities.

*puts this one in his back pocket, assuming it may come in handy some day*

Ahem, sorry.

[Roark]

But, can it be true???? Did politicians really promise some sort of project and the people didn't really think through the costs to make it happen before they voted??? Unbelievable.
Now...NEWSFLASH...it is more expensive than promised. Gee, that doesn't sound like any government program I've ever heard of before.
I promise a chicken in every pot. Free education for everyone. It is a God given right for free healthcare for everyone (can I bum a cigarette please), etc.

"You think healthcare is expensive now...wait until it's free" --- P.J. O'Rourke

It shouldn't be any surprise that a government project is not self funded or even economical (see the Florida transportation high speed rail link for more lunacy).

[Dale]

Man after my own heart.

BTW, word of warning from an Orlandoan. A miscalculation of this very sort, with the tax we passed in 2002 for more classroom space, likely proved to be a factor in the crushing defeat of the next referendum which would have funded transportation improvements.

[jzquince69]

As before, build the MIC-Earlington Heights line first. Get the MIC up and running. The Tri-Rail station too. Tri-Rail's riidership will substantially increase, now that there will be an actual location to travel to. Then, when double-tracking is complete for tri-rail's existing line, implement the other tri-rail line up closer to the coast on that track they discussed on their website (sorry I didn't post a link). It will be just like Chicago with METRA and MTA. Another Tri-rail line should keep rampant I-95 traffic a little more in check.

I think billions spent on a 27th Ave. elevated line to nowhere (Carrol City and Joe Robbie) is a waste. UNLESS, there is a Turnpike connector to a park n' ride lot- BUT even so, it should be cheaper to build a rail spur heading southeast to the closest point on the Tri-rail line in north Miami-Dade to connect Joe Robbie to Metrorail. Since they're double-tracking the tri-rail line, they surely can add a spur to Pro Player which will connect that area to metrorail.

Regarding the 27th Ave corridor itself, it doesn't seem feasible. run more buses for now- but get the MIC line up, get another tri-rail line going up the coast, and do a study to get a tri-rail line up western Miami-Dade into west Broward as well.