In today’s Move It! column (one of the last?), Rad Sallee talks about how Wall Street’s problems affect local transportation entities. Here are a couple of excerpts:
County Judge Ed Emmett said the toll road authority has more than $800 million in the bank and, if necessary, could build two long-awaited projects, the northeast quadrant of the Sam Houston Tollway and the Hardy Toll Road extension to downtown, with that money alone. Both projects will break ground soon, he said.
And:
Metro has one advantage over the other two agencies: Its main revenue source is a 1-cent sales tax that rises with inflation and is based on a variety of goods, not just motor fuel or toll road use. The agency has collected $520 million from the sales tax in the past 12 months and has cash reserves of $134 million.
At present, Metro is “pretty much a cash business,” said Wilson. Compared to its 2008 budget of about $800 million, he noted, current debt is $143 million.
But the debt will increase sharply next year when construction of five light rail lines and the rest of the Metro Solutions plan get under way.
[snip]
Under a 2003 transit referendum, no more than $640 million in bonds may be issued for Metro Solutions.
To cover the remaining cost — and some estimate the total well over $3 billion — it will need 50 percent federal funding and probably substantial help from private companies seeking joint developments with Metro around transit facilities.
What I find interesting is Sallee’s characterization of the one-cent sales tax as an “advantage.” HCTRA collects its revenues from tolls, and whether or not one agrees with toll roads, drivers make a decision to pay the toll and fund HCTRA. With METRO, EVERYONE within the taxing jurisdiction forks over money, when most of the taxpayers never even use the agency’s services. Advantage: METRO. Screwed: taxpayers.
Of course, we know METRO funds itself through tax dollars, not through fare collection. Its (overall) transit offerings are so pathetic, it could never live off fares. Someday, perhaps a local pol will take on METRO, start standing up for those of us who get nothing as METRO takes our money, and put a dent in METRO’s entitlement mentality. I can dream!
