Local Transportation Tax’s Effects Criticized

After nearly six years, a quarter-cent tax for transportation has not caused an increase in the passenger service provided by the city bus system, a new audit says.

The tax has provided $28 million for the Transit Department, and $21 million should have been used for enhancing bus service under a policy approved by the City Council, the audit says.

However, the Transit Department “is not currently complying with this expenditure requirement, because the amount of passenger service being provided is currently at approximately the same level as existed prior to Transit receiving these quarter-cent tax funds,” says the report from the city Office of Internal Audit and Investigations.

In response to the report, a memo from Chief Administrative Officer James Lewis says the cost of bus-system improvements was underestimated when the tax was created. Also, shortly after the tax went into effect, the city faced financial challenges that “tended to further erode the ability of Transit to achieve or maintain the contemplated uses of that revenue stream,” it says.

The memo says the city “continues to add, delete and modify routes and offer new services. Transit believes that weekend and weekday expansion services have remained at a higher level than existed before the tax was approved.”

Albuquerque’s bus system during the past year has launched an ambitious project that could lead to express bus service. The city is now trying out the service along Central Avenue with apparent success.

The memo from Lewis says the ordinance imposing the quarter-cent tax “specifies only that 20 percent of the revenue from the tax was to be ‘dedicated’ to transit purposes.”

Voters approved the 10-year grossreceipts tax in 1999, while Jim Baca was mayor. It was mostly for road projects, but 20 percent was earmarked for transit.

City councilors later adopted a policy saying 75 percent of the transit share should be used to enhance service.

A statement issued by Mayor Martin Chvez’s office late Friday said it was “an important tax from the previous administration. Transit, however, was $1.2 million in the red when the Chvez administration came into office.

“We will study the audit and certainly act on those portions which can direct us toward a better transit system. It is important to remember that audits are financial tools and must be blended with common sense, experience, and most importantly, community need.”