35 replies to this topic

[CNJRoss]

WTOP radio:

 

McAuliffe: Use Northern Va. transportation money, tax increases to fund Metro

 

 December 18, 2017 12:10 am

 

 

WASHINGTON — Metro would permanently get $150 million per year from regional taxes collected across Northern Virginia under outgoing Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s final two-year budget proposal, which is set to be unveiled Monday, administration officials said.

 

Virginia’s $150 million additional annual state contribution would be funded by taking $85 million of Northern Virginia’s existing regional transportation sales tax and related revenues, and by increasing three regional taxes to raise an estimated $65 million per year, as long as Maryland and the District allocate their own shares of funding and the jurisdictions, and the federal government approves shrinking the Metro Board.

 

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Related topic:  WMATA: Proposed 'METRO Accountability and Reform Act...

[CNJRoss]

The Washington Post,​ 1/8/18:

Historic rescue for Metro? Both Virginia and Maryland legislatures will study funding bills.

 

 

In a bid to cover a financial gap that has hampered Metro since its creation, state lawmakers in Virginia and Maryland will consider bills to give the agency a permanent, dependable source of funding worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

 

It will be the first time since the agreement to build the subway more than 50 years ago that lawmakers in Richmond and Annapolis have simultaneously sought to provide dedicated funding for the transit agency.

 

SNIP

 

A key to the new effort is flexibility; each state would come up with its own way to raise the money. Virginia is considering doing it partly through tax increases in Northern Virginia, whereas Maryland is looking at diverting existing transportation funds to Metro. All three jurisdictions say they will provide additional funds only if the other two do so .

​More here.

[CNJRoss]

WTOP radio:

Derailment called a ‘red flag’ as Md. lawmakers debate funding for Metro

January 15, 2018 5:38 pm

 

 

WASHINGTON — Monday morning’s derailment along Metro’s Red Line comes as regional lawmakers are discussing ways to pay for capital improvements for Metro, including the possibility of dedicated funding.

 

SNIP

 

Maryland state Sen. Brian Feldman doesn’t think the Red Line derailment compromises those legislative efforts.

He calls the incident another “red flag” that underscores just why dedicated funding is needed from D.C., Virginia and Maryland.

 

More here.

 

Cross posted: WMATA red line train derails near Farragut North station - 1/15/18

[CNJRoss]

​The Washington Post Editorial,​ 1/13/18:

Metro’s make-or-break time has come

 

by The Editorial Board

 

 

VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND lawmakers are gathering for their annual legislative sessions almost exactly three years from the date of Metro’s most recent calamity — the tunnel smoke incident at L’Enfant Plaza that sickened scores of passengers and killed one in 2015. That grim anniversary should serve as a warning in Annapolis and Richmond, and a reminder, of the unacceptable consequences of decades spent ignoring Metro’s anemic finances.

 

This is the year legislators must stop shirking their basic responsibilities and find a way to shore up America’s second-busiest transit network, the nation’s only major system that lacks a reliable, ongoing, earmarked source of local funding. No more delays. No more pleading poverty. No more yes-buts. No more poison pills. No more After-You-Alphonse routines.

 

There are no perfect plans and no painless compromises.  .  .  .

 

[CNJRoss]

WTOP radio 2/13:

 

Metro funding, ban on drivers’ handheld phone use advance on Va. assembly’s ‘crossover day’

February 13, 2018 6:50 pm

 

 

RICHMOND, Va. — In a major milestone for Metro funding, each house of Virginia’s General Assembly approved on Tuesday more than $100 million per year for the system.

 

The details of the first new funding for the system and related restrictions and reforms must be hashed out before the session ends March 10; but the votes were critical since it was the deadline known as “crossover,” when bills must pass in the house where they were introduced in order to have any chance of becoming law during the 60-day session.

 

SNIP

 

Metro funding, gas tax details

The Metro funding plan from the Senate, approved 25-15, largely tracks proposals from former Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s term to raise several regional taxes in Northern Virginia to levels approved by the General Assembly in 2013.

 

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[CNJRoss]

WTOP radio 3/10/18:
 

Va. reaches landmark $154M Metro funding deal

 

 

WASHINGTON — Metro will get a full $154 million per year requested from Virginia taxpayers to cover major capital repairs and upgrades, under a deal hammered out in the dying moments of the General Assembly.

 

With expected approvals from both the House and Senate, Virginia would be the first jurisdiction to approve dedicated capital funding for Metro. Metro requested a minimum of $500 million total in additional annual tax funding from the region over the next decade largely to help catch up on a maintenance backlog.

 

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[CNJRoss]

WTOP radio 3/21/18:
 

Fairfax Co. pushes for changes to landmark Va. Metro funding deal

 

 

WASHINGTON — Fairfax County supervisors slammed Virginia’s landmark Metro funding agreement Tuesday, as they prepared to join other Northern Virginia groups to plead with the governor to avoid taking as much of the $154 million per year out of existing regional transportation projects.

 

“The only worse thing than the bill on the governor’s desk would be if it wasn’t there,” Supervisor John Cook said. “The funding mechanism — next to not having one — it’s about as bad as it could be.”

 

The Board of Supervisors is set to send a letter to Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, urging the use of more statewide funding or different regional funding sources than those included in the final bill passed by the General Assembly on March 10.

 

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[CNJRoss]

WTOP radio 3/28/18:
 

Northam: Tax increases could be part of Metro funding package

 

 

WASHINGTON — During his monthly appearance on WTOP’s Ask the Governor program, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam suggested that proposed changes to the Metro funding bill might include tax hikes that the General Assembly had stripped from the bill.

 

A compromise between the Senate and House of Delegates found Virginia’s $154 million share of the money needed to fund Metro. Maryland and D.C. have come through with their shares. A number of Northern Virginia leaders have objected to the state’s plan, saying it takes money from other transportation projects such as roads.

 

“We have a plan on the table that does take funding from the (Northern Virginia) Transportation Authority,” Northam said; area leaders have concerns, “as do I.”

 

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[CNJRoss]

WTOP radio 4/13/18:
 

DC mayor to sign dedicated Metro funding promise in one of final steps for landmark deal

 

 

WASHINGTON — The District is set to officially promise Friday morning to provide dedicated tax dollars to Metro, in one of the final steps required to seal a landmark funding deal.

 

Mayor Muriel Bowser is scheduled Friday to sign emergency legislation passed earlier this week promising $178 million per year to Metro.

 

The detailed plan, to be formally approved in early June, would designate a portion of the city’s sales tax for the transit agency.  .  .  .

 

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[CNJRoss]

WTOP radio 4/18/18:
 

Va. House GOP rejects tax increases for Metro; other transportation projects to take a hit

 

 

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia’s House of Delegates voted 50-48 to block proposed Northern Virginia hotel and real estate transfer tax increases to pay for Metro, dealing a blow to local government leaders of both parties who had warned it will lead to too much money being taken away from other Northern Virginia transportation projects.

 

SNIP

 

“We’re going to make sure Metro is funded, we’re going to make sure Metro is reformed, and we did it without raising taxes,” Fairfax County Republican Del. Tim Hugo said after the session adjourned.

 

While he argued the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority will still have $266 million per year available for other transportation projects, Falls Church Democratic Del. Marcus Simon said that remains far short of what the region really needs.

 

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