Decision follows similar delays by county, VTA
Morgan Hill – The city council delayed their vote on a new sales tax to extend BART to San Jose in an effort to wrangle more transit projects for South County from the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.
“There’s a lot of willingness to take our questions and concerns for further study, but there’s no commitment to do any of those things,” Councilman Steve Tate said as the council discussed the VTA’s proposed quarter-cent sales tax this week. “Until we have that in writing and get absolute guarantees we’ll get these things, I cannot support this measure.”
The VTA is scheduled to vote on a financial plan for the sales tax at its March 2 board meeting. Morgan Hill Mayor Dennis Kennedy, a VTA board member, has said his vote will be influenced by the number of South County projects in the spending plan and the wishes of his city council.
Kennedy advocated for months for more Caltrain funding, more bus service and a greater share of road improvements for South County.
“I will push to see if we can get those commitments,” Kennedy said.
Earlier this week, the VTA board rescheduled the vote to March 2. It is the fourth delay. Previously, the vote had been set for November, December and February.
Santa Clara County Supervisors also postponed their decision until late February.
The delay is more evidence that the politicians on the VTA board have not reached agreement on a spending plan for the tax or found the consensus needed to persuade two-thirds of county voters to support the quarter-cent tax.
The VTA is now exploring a joint half-cent sales tax with the county. The Morgan Hill City Council will vote on the tax next month.
