EDITORIAL: Many Routes to Explore: But Find a Transit Funding Solution Soon
Posted on: Monday, 9 January 2006, 12:00 CST
By The Dallas Morning News
Jan. 9--There's not necessarily one right way to fund a regional transit system, but there's a right time to determine which funding sources are feasible, both technically and politically. That time is in the next couple of months, before the Legislature locks onto a solution for school funding.
The Texas Supreme Court gave legislators only until June 1 to lessen schools' reliance on property taxes. Increasing the sales tax is one possibility, but it's also the option that a coalition of hundreds of local leaders identified as the best way to fund a regional rail system.
Last week, a 33-member working group that combines legislators, county commissioners, mayors and council members and transit system officials from nine North Texas counties was charged with solving the transit funding riddle. They're to consider all possibilities without ignoring the extensive research that led local leaders to favor a sales tax.
The editorial board has championed regional transit, including the sales tax proposal that went nowhere while the last Legislature wrestled with school finance. But, like all those committed to regional transit, we'd willingly embrace another workable solution.
A tax on gasoline? Fine. Lifting the state-imposed sales tax cap only in regions such as ours that fail to meet federal air-quality standards? Sounds promising. Redistributing the debt of cities that have pledged sales tax revenue against economic development bonds rather than joining a transit system? Certainly worth a look. A levy on hula hoops? We're open.
Open, so long as the proposed sources will generate enough money to build and run a first-class system; are fair both to cities that help fund DART and other transit systems and those that don't; can be collected through existing mechanisms; and can gain the support of voters.
So, panel members, be open-minded, probe deeply and think creatively. Just remember, please, that time is very much of the essence.
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Dallas Morning News
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Source: The Dallas Morning News
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