VTA approves sending new quarter-cent BART tax to voters next
year
There will be another sales tax ballot measure to fund BART next year, but it’s not clear yet whether the quarter-cent tax will last forever or expire after 30 years.
What is certain is that Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority officials will have a tough time persuading voters to approve another tax hike to pay for transit projects promised by Measure A in 2000.
“It’s important that this board speak with one voice,” Morgan Hill Mayor Dennis Kennedy. “We have to reach out to the cities, reach out to our constituents and find a common solution. Competition confuses the voters and lowers our chances of success.”
Board members believe they’re reaching consensus on the Measure A projects that will be funded with a new sales tax. BART will be built by 2018, South County will get additional Caltrain services and cities will get funds for local road projects. VTA Board Chariman Joe Pirzynski, of Los Gatos, said the challenge now is to prove the VTA is worth the money.
“At the end of the day, the question is how do we convince the public that the service we put on the street is worth it,” Pirzynski said. And the VTA’s campaign to fund the $5 billion BART to Silicon Valley could start as soon as next week, when the VTA may release new projected ridership numbers that show a substantial increase in the number of commuters who would ride BART if it’s built.
San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales, who has led the effort to bring BART to his city and the Mineta San Jose International Airport, said Friday that the new numbers prove that politicians and the public should remain committed to the project. He said the projections, which VTA will forward to the Federal Transit Authority, should help secure as much as $1 billion in federal funding. Federal authorities have so far resisted funding the project on fears that it won’t be cost effective.
“It can only help, but I think that our Bay Area congressional delegation and our senators support BART and the federal government is very supportive of the BART project,” Gonzales said. “The numbers I’ve seen are a reaffirmation of what I’ve thought all along, that BART to Silicon Valley is well worth our investment.”
If voters don’t agree to tax themselves on top of the 30-year, half-cent measure they approved in 2000, BART, Caltrain improvements, and dozens of other projects will be in doubt. A poll conducted in the spring by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, a consortium of business interests, found about 61 percent support for an increase, short of the two-thirds it would need to pass.
“It’s got to happen,” Gage said of a tax increase, but he expressed worry that voters won’t be given the full story on what their taxes will pay for. Gage said that the SVLG has revealed only those parts of the poll “they want you to see,” and that operation and maintenance costs are often left out of the discussion. Voters, for example are told how much it would cost to widen Highway 101, but not how much it will cost to maintain the additional lanes. And while the VTA will trumpet its improved ridership forecast, it has not figured the additional riders into the project’s budget.
“It’s always ‘What are you going to do for me?’ and worry about maintenance later,” Gage said. “It’s disingenuous because we’re not telling them the true cost of projects.”
Gage said he thinks any tax increase should be permanent. The VTA’s financial forecast shows that a 30-year tax creates an operating deficit and forces the VTA to return to voters for more money.
“We need to make sure there’s enough money for operations,” he said. “If we go back and say we ran out of money, we’ll all get slaughtered.”
Key to the VTA’s marketing campaign is a platform that promises a wide array of projects, including local road and expressway funding and increased Caltrain service to South County. The VTA will go ahead with a $45 million project to increase Caltrain capacity that will make it easier to run reverse-commute trains. Initially, however, that capability will only reach as far south as Morgan Hill.
Matt King covers Santa Clara County for the Dispatch. Reach him at 847-7240 or mk***@gi************.com.
Why you should care
If voters approve a quarter-cent sales tax next year, the VTA will get between $82 million and $301 million revenue each year on top of the half-cent tax increase that was approved in 2000 and takes effect in 2006. The money would be used for projects promised to voters by Measure A in 2000:
• Construct BART to the San Jose Airport by 2018
• Make environmental improvements to Caltrain and increase South County services
• Provide $717 million each year for local road and expressway projects*
• Purchase more environmentally-friendly buses
• Several light rail projects in North County
*This component was not part of Measure A
