GILROY
– The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority plans to ask
voters in November 2006 for a new half-cent sales tax.
The money would go toward maintaining roads and operating Santa
Clara County’s existing bus and rail network, according to VTA
Chairman, county Supervisor and Gilroy resident Don Gage.
Also, the tax possibly could be used for some capital projects,
including
”
to fill in the gaps
”
for an embattled plan to extend Bay Area Rapid Transit to San
Jose, Gage said.
GILROY – The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority plans to ask voters in November 2006 for a new half-cent sales tax.
The money would go toward maintaining roads and operating Santa Clara County’s existing bus and rail network, according to VTA Chairman, county Supervisor and Gilroy resident Don Gage.
Also, the tax possibly could be used for some capital projects, including “to fill in the gaps” for an embattled plan to extend Bay Area Rapid Transit to San Jose, Gage said.
The VTA board hasn’t officially approved the new tax but has discussed it and agreed to hold it for 2006, Gage said Friday.
This would raise the sales tax in this county to 9 percent. The VTA currently gets a penny for every dollar spent: a half-cent to run buses and light rail and a half-cent for new construction.
Such taxes make up 80 percent of the VTA’s revenue. As of last fall, bus and light rail fares covered 11.6 percent of the cost of operating these services, one of the lowest farebox recovery rates in the nation. A fare hike is scheduled for Jan. 1 to partly make up for this.
The VTA polled people last fall about adding a second half-cent sales tax for BART and other construction projects. A majority, but less than the required two-thirds, said they would support it.
“This year does not look like a good year to go to the polls with another sales tax increase,” said Laura Stuchinsky, transportation director for the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, which represents the biggest private companies in the Valley and is involved in regional planning. Stuchinsky said this decision was based on polls, a lagging economy and a glut of other ballot questions expected this November.
“Voters can only take on so many things at a time, especially when the economy is in a slump,” she said.
SVMG and VTA officials hope the economy will be stronger by 2006, and voters will be more amenable to the new tax for transportation.
“By 2006, VTA is going to need some additional funds,” Stuchinsky said. “They can limp along ’til then.”
It is partly to prepare voters for the tax hike ahead of time that the VTA and SVMG have held a series of community transportation forums in six cities since May 19. The last one was Friday morning at the Historic Strand Theatre in Gilroy. Ten people attended.
Gage and several guests at the forum said road maintenance is a serious concern. Public agencies often are not maintaining or repairing highways and local roads in order to cut costs, Gage said, meaning roads deteriorate beyond repair and must be repaved entirely.
Local transportation lawyer Joe Thompson noted that Congress’ opening of borders to Mexican and Canadian freight trucks – via the North American Free Trade Agreement – means that more trucks, carrying heavier loads, soon will be pounding U.S. highways, speeding up wear and tear.
The proposed half-cent tax “would put some money in for local roads as well, like in Gilroy,” Gage said.
No one at the forum mentioned a new sales tax, but the discussion, led by SVMG President/CEO Carl Guardino, circled around it. He, Gage and VTA Policy and Program Manager Joanne Benjamin began with a presentation showing VTA successes in finishing capital projects on time and under budget using sales tax measures voters approved in 1984 and 1996. Highlights included the construction of state Highway 85 and the elimination of bottlenecks on U.S. 101 and Interstate 880.
The meeting concluded with each audience member sharing his perceived transportation improvement needs.
In between, Guardino and Gage shared a bleak outlook for getting sufficient funds from the state and federal governments to pay for regional road and transit improvements. The SVMG and VTA are asking people to write to their state and federal representatives to demand more transportation project funding.
“Local funds will be needed to realize many of those improvements, but we’re still looking for state and federal funds,” Stuchinsky said after the forum.
Stuchinsky said she wouldn’t go so far as to say the forum promoted the half-cent tax. Rather, she said, they were “beginning a conversation with the community.” Its purpose was to “engage the public about where things are, what we are proud of and the challenges that lie ahead.”
“People tend to forget the good work that we do,” Gage said after the meeting. “We need people to know that we’ve done what we said we were going to do, and when we come back for more, they know they can trust us.”
Peter Crowley covers public safety for The Dispatch. You can reach him at
pc******@gi************.com
or 847-7109.
