It has been said that the existing transit system is under-funded and needs our sales tax money to survive (remember that 2002 election, we raised OUR sales tax to fund new rail, etc.). Should the County commingle the earmarked funds and use this transit tax money to fund day-to-day operations henceforth? I say hell no! Here is why:
Right or wrong, new service is what we voted for, it was the bill of goods sold to us. I don’t think anyone would have voted for the sales tax increase had they known it would be used for maintenance and operations. That is what we pay regular taxes for. The additional tax was for NEW SERVICE. Mistake or not, that is what we, the voters, approved. That is how we were suckered into raising our taxes, maybe they were lies, but we believed them.
I agree with the Miami Herald editorial below. I am not into bailing our the county for their lack of good governing and oversight and letting the transit department go to pot. We are not obligated to bail them out by allowing them to redirect a surtax slotted for new service. If we cannot do the service right now, lets SAVE up the funds so we can get matching Federal Funds for transit in the future. What is wrong with putting the funds aside till the County gets its act together and Federal Funds become available?
The County must fund the Department --- don’t expect the citizens to do it with sales tax. Because transit has been neglected does not mean the sales tax should be redirected to bail it out. This is a betrayal of the public trust. What is with all these bail-outs? Has this country gone mad?
Miami Herald:
Posted on Wed, Nov. 19, 2008
County needs fresh perspective on transit
Rare is the day when politicians deliberately schedule a hearing so the public can take them to the woodshed. Yet, to their credit, that's exactly what Miami-Dade County Commissioner Dennis Moss and Mayor Carlos Alvarez did Saturday. They invited residents to a public rant session on the transit tax, followed by a boxed lunch and a round table on what county government should do about its transit policies.
Keep promises to voters
One thing the County Commission definitely should not do is agree to make it easier for the administration to use the transit tax to fund the transit agency's everyday operations in the future. This is in direct contradiction to what was promised if voters approved the tax in 2002.
The ballot question introducing the People's Transportation Plan (PTP) was for new bus lines and extended and new Metrorail routes. It never mentioned financing a chronically underfunded transit agency's maintenance and repair of existing equipment.
Yet, after the tax passed, the first major expenditure approved by the commission was $700 million for transit upkeep and maintenance projects. While the bus fleet was expanded and new routes added, the only Metrorail line feasible under the PTP is a 2.4-mile leg from Earlington Heights Metrorail Station to the intermodal center at Miami International Airport.
The North line along 27th Avenue to the county line? Impossible. An east-west link? Nope.
The half-penny sales tax for transit simply can't raise enough revenue to pay for the big-ticket items.
Mayor Alvarez readily admitted that the PTP to get the tax passed for transit was overblown. Easy for him to say. The tax was pitched by his predecessor, former mayor Alex Penelas. But Mr. Alvarez is stuck with the consequences of this particular bait and switch. He and the commission must find ways to regain residents' trust and, ultimately, approval of the county's future transit policy.
Everyone should pay
For instance, if they want to spend the transit tax on operations and maintenance rather than capital projects, they should take the proposal to voters. Using tax money for a purpose that voters were never asked to approve is wrong, if not illegal. Commissioners should also ask voters to undo another promise in the PTP -- free transit rides for able-bodied seniors and other interest groups. Why should anyone ride free? Discounted fares based on disability, income or other concerns make sense for a transit agency that can't afford to give away rides.
Finally, for pity's sake, clean up! A common complaint Saturday was dirty buses, trains and stations and a general aura of neglect in public transit facilities. Surely, at least this problem can be remedied.
(Thank you Miami Herald for this great editorial)
7 comments:
Maybe if we are lucky the county government will topple over from its own weight. The Miami Dade County Commission can do no right.
Did anyone catch today's editorial:
Straight to the point
• BARREIRO'S TRICK
Shame on County Commissioner Bruno Barreiro for trying to pull a fast one at the end of a public meeting last week. With no advance notice, Mr. Barreiro proposed a $26,000 raise for County Attorney Robert Cuevas -- just like that. Not so fast, said Commissioner Carlos Gimenez. He asked for a legal opinion on whether he could forestall a vote by objecting to an unadvertised item on the agenda. Yes, replied the aforementioned Mr. Cuevas, thus putting an end -- for now -- to what would have been a hefty 9 percent raise for himself.
Credit Mr. Gimenez for quick thinking and Mr. Cuevas for honesty. The county attorney may well deserve the raise, but it should go through the normal process of scrutiny and be placed on a public agenda before a vote.
Mr. Barreiro should be given the commission equivalent of a ''time out'' and be sent to sit in the corner until he learns that elected officials, if nothing else, should be transparent and accountable.
______________
If memory serves, Gimenez was railing against the administration for using the PTP for maintanence and operation. He and then director Bradley got into it in a public hearing, and he blased Burgess...
The County needs to keep their hands off the transit money. Period. The county manager (I guess means mayor) needs to clean up transit.
I am still not past the fact that Mayor Alvarez and the Commission dumped the blame on Mayor Penelas and his staff.
For goodness sakes, who has had their hands in the cookie jar for past 6 years? Penelas has not been there. It has been the county manager, the current mayor, and pretty much the same commission (oh, my!)that was there when the tax was voted in.
Penelas and the staff that pulled that package together could only work with the numbers that the Transit Department, the Federal government and FDOT provided to them at time they were creating the package. They had the numbers they were given. So, if Transit or anyone lied about the facts, then of course, the numbers would be suspect.
BUT.
Who are the people who have pushed away the intent of the Citizen's Oversight Board?
Who are the ones maneuvered the dollars away from the CITT and into the general pot?
Who have been the folks challendging the CITT on every thing they do? (and making their lives miserable?)
I will give you a hint. It wasn't you or me.
PS: You would think that if the county can afford to hire people just to make coffee, they could afford to hire someone to vacuum and clean out buses and metro rail cars. There's nothing like fighting the roaches for a seat.
Using tax money for a purpose that voters were never asked to approve is wrong, if not illegal.
REPEAL THE TAX
No, don't repeal the tax! What good would that do? How about making the CTT the oversight board it was meant to be by cutting ties with the commission and the mayor's office - make it a truly independant board. Further, give it authority over all transit dollars (not just PTP dollars, but fare revenue, general fund contributions, etc.) Appoint people to the board that actually care about mass transit and know what works and doesn't. No more MDT, no more commission, no more mayor. Bypass all the bull@*&#. It can work, look at what they did in Seattle with Sound Transit.
Anonymous above forgot to add then County Manager Steve Shiver in the historical mix. Shiver was the one who mucked up transit from the inside. The guy was crooked from the start. Penalas has to bear some responsibility for that. Rumor has it that Pinelas picked Shiver to work some magic and get the Homestead Air Base back on track for a commercial airport. Maybe Pinelas was so desperate he forgot the collateral damage.
We have got to find a way to cut through this "blockage" and get a transit system up and running, if we are going to be able to survive in the future. The logical path would be empowering the CITT as an authority independent of the commission as proposed above. If that can't happen, maybe a regional transit authority for Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Whatever mechanism we use, we have got to figure a way to get some talent in here, the money going where it is suppose to go, and a system up and running.
Post a Comment