Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Go, go & maybe someday: Durham, Orange and Wake on 1/2-cent tax for transit
Word on the prospects for a 1/2-cent sales tax for transit in the Triangle after the Regional Transportation Alliance breakfast meeting this morning:
* Durham and Orange counties are looking seriously at asking voters this fall to approve a different sales tax increase — the 1/4-cent tax hike authorized by the legislature to support schools or other needs.
* Durham and Orange may wind up asking voters to approve a package — the 1/4-cent tax for schools and the 1/2-cent tax for transit. This, according to Michael Page, chair of the Durham County Board of Commissioners and Bernadette Pelissier, chair of the Orange County Board of Commissioners. Both said the question of what will be on the ballot this fall is yet to be decided.
* Wake County's commissioners will not let the voters consider either tax increase this year. The 1/2-cent tax for transit may get to the ballot in May or November of 2012, or it may get there in May of 2013 — or later. This according to Wake Commissioner Tony Gurley, who spoke in place of Wake Commissioners Chair Paul Coble.
Why Coble didn't represent the county wasn't clear. Gurley said the RTA asked him to speak a few weeks ago after failing to get up with Coble. And of course Coble is adamantly opposed to tax increases for anything, but that goes about double for transit.
Gurley said the Wake Commissioners won't block a vote on the transit tax forever, but will need to see "some degree of economic recovery in the area" before they'll let the 1/2-cent question go to the ballot in Wake.
Page and Pelissier made it clear they'd rather the three counties move together in concert, but if Wake won't go, Durham and Orange may go without them. Page said polling by Durham County indicated majority support for the transit tax hike, though it was less than for the tax hike for education.
In the background: The question of the temporary 1-cent sales tax surcharge at the state level, which expires at the end of June unless the General Assembly extends it. Gov. Bev Perdue, in her budget, asked for an extension — but for just 3/4-cent, not the whole 1-cent.
Republicans are in charge in the General Assembly, however, and they're vowing so far to kill the sales tax surcharge and cut budgets — including school and transportation budgets — accordingly. If they do, that could open the door to public acceptance of the need to levy 1/4-cent or 1/2-cent or 3/4ths of a cent in the Triangle to offset what the state's not provided any more. Imo.
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Also, the population of Wake County outside Raleigh is growing faster than the population of Raleigh. Consequently, Raleigh has a slowly diminishing percentage of county residents. As we've seen in the WCPSS matter, Raleigh doesn't carry as much weight in county-wide politics as it once did.
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dislikeRaleigh is not only surrounded by Wake County, it's out-numbered by about 500,000 who live in Wake outside of Raleigh to 400,000 in Raleigh.
But no, Raleigh cannot vote itself a sales tax increase. Under the General Assembly's authorizing legislation, only the county governments can do so, and they need voter approval in a countywide referendum.
Raleigh could pay for better CAT bus service from its own revenues, or even start a little light-rail trolley of its own somewhere, but it would have to do so with its own tax sources plus whatever it could get in grants from the state or the feds (i.e., not much in the current environment).
Could Raleigh move ahead without Wake County?
Raleigh, for all its merits, will always have the disadvantage of being stuck in Wake County, which, outside of Raleigh, is practically as provincially conservative as Johnston. And that's not going to get us anywhere.
Wake's Republican leanings are an opportunity for Durham and Orange to move ahead on the transit front. The transit plan that has been developed so far involved light rail in Durham/Orange and a separate light rail in Wake connected by commuter rail in between. There was a brewing horse race as to who would get what when and Wake was attempting to exert its strenght to get the first leg of rail built. Wouldn't it be amazing if the Durham/Orange portion got off the ground first. What an opportuntity. Michael Page and his board need to jump all over it.
Now as to school funding, why should that be done through sales tax. The commissioners need to have the guts to fund the schools through the more progressive property tax rout. Why should lower income folks pay disproportionately for schools. With transit, since it benefits most folks in the lower income group, its pretty fair to do a regressive sales tax.
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