35 replies to this topic

[CNJRoss]

WTOP radio, 9/28/17:
 

Debate over Metro Board likely to derail dedicated funding for subway

 

 

WASHINGTON — Continued debate over Metro Board’s structure will likely derail any hopes for new, permanent dedicated tax funding for the agency in this winter’s General Assembly sessions, Metro and regional business leaders said Thursday.

 

Metro Board should be smaller and there should be more privatization or contracting as part of overall changes, said former D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, now executive director of often-influential business group Federal City Council.

 

He and other colleagues do not expect new dedicated tax funding that Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld says is needed for major maintenance and repairs will become a reality this winter or spring, even after outgoing Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said Wednesday he would at least include it in his two-year budget proposal in December.

 

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Reltated topic: Proposed WMATA Board of Directors Restructuring

[CNJRoss]

WTOP radio 10/7/17:
 

Want Metro to work? Empowering citizens at core of grass-roots effort

 

 

ARLINGTON, Va. — A grass-roots effort is underway to push for dedicated funding for Metro.

 

Civic activists say they are no longer just waiting around for elected officials to agree on desperately needed Metro funding — instead they are educating and empowering citizens to lobby and to advocate for the funding.

 

On Saturday in Arlington at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the public was invited to a Metro “Fund it and Fix it” call to action forum.

 

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[CNJRoss]

WTOP radio, 10/13/17:

Defiant Metro board chair facing growing pressure to resign

 

 

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Metro Board of Directors is defending himself and rejecting calls for his resignation amid an inter-jurisdictional fight that grew much worse this week.

 

Jack Evans, the board chairman who also is a D.C. Council member, said he will not back down.

 

“I get a lot of criticism, but you can call me any name you want,” he said. “I’m not going to go away.”

 

 

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He said the recent tension has more to do with the fact that he frequently criticizes and faults elected officials and surrounding jurisdictions for not supporting a region-wide 1-cent sales tax to serve as a dedicated funding source for Metro.

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[CNJRoss]

WTOP radio 11/2/17:
 

Poll: DC region likes Metro, backs more public funding

 

 

WASHINGTON — About seven out of 10 voters in the D.C. region support an increase in public funding for Metro, and about half support new taxes to pay for it, according to a survey completed for a coalition of business groups pushing for Metro reforms.

 

The survey, provided to WTOP ahead of a public release Thursday, also finds that 53 percent of voters have at least a somewhat favorable view of the Metro system, compared to 30 percent who have a somewhat or very unfavorable view of Metro.

 

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“It’s clear from the most recent Metro budget that the system continues to have both short-term and long-term financial needs, which are going to require dedicated funding. We think our survey demonstrates that the public values Metro and overwhelmingly supports both reform and dedicated funding, so from our perspective, we think the stars are beginning to align,” Walter said.

 

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[CNJRoss]

The Washington Post,​ 11/7/17:

D.C. Council bill would raise sales tax by 0.75 percent to pay for Metro

 

 

 

D.C.’s sales tax would increase nearly a penny per dollar to fund Metro under a proposal unveiled in the D.C. Council on Tuesday. But the 0.75 percent tax increase would not take effect unless Maryland and Virginia enacted identical sale tax increases to support the struggling transit system, an unlikely prospect in the current political environment.

 

The Council unanimously introduced the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Dedicated Funding Act, aimed at funding the agency’s capital needs and boosting revenue. Council members settled on the 0.75 percent figure — rather than 1 percent — because a uniform, regionwide tax at that rate would raise the $500 million a year that General Manager Paul. J. Wiedefeld has requested, Metro Board Chairman Jack Evans said.

 

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[CNJRoss]

WTOP radio, 11/15/17:

 

Metro funding is ‘No. 1 priority,’ Montgomery Co. lawmakers say

 

 

WASHINGTON — Officials in Montgomery County are highlighting dedicated funding for the Metro system as their top priority ahead of the next legislative session in Annapolis.

 

The 2018 session is set to begin in January, and county leaders are detailing what they hope will be accomplished in the Maryland House of Delegates and Senate.

 

“Let’s get a 10-year dedicated funding plan if we possibly can,” said County Council President Roger Berliner during a meeting with state legislators Monday. “It’s the No. 1 priority for the region and for our county.”

 

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[CNJRoss]

The Washington Post,​ 12/5/17:

McAuliffe says Virginia has done its part to fix Metro and needs Maryland and D.C. to step up

 

 

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) said Tuesday that his state has done its part for Metro by urging board reforms and pledging to provide dedicated funding, and he called on Maryland and the District to join the effort.

 

McAuliffe spoke at a news conference marking the official release of a report on fixing Metro prepared by former U.S. transportation secretary Ray LaHood.

 

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The outgoing governor said he has completed his final budget, to be released Dec. 18, and it will include guaranteed, long-term funding for Metro as LaHood recommended. He declined to say what form the financing will take but suggested it would not involve a tax increase.

 

“Virginia today has done their part. We are putting up our money,” McAuliffe said. “It is dedicated, sustainable and it will go on perpetually into the future. I am asking the other jurisdictions to do it.”

 

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[CNJRoss]

WTOP radio, 12/6/17:

Metro may see service cuts without new funding

 

 

WASHINGTON — After the failure to reach a hoped-for regional consensus on how to give Washington’s crumbling Metro system the critical support it needs, former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood officially released a series of recommendations Tuesday that will set up even more rounds of debate as the clock ticks toward potential further Metro service cuts.

 

Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld, who was in the front row for the announcement, said that without new funding he would have no option but to cut service in order to pay for critical maintenance and repairs.

 

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[CNJRoss]

The Washington Post, 12/13/17:

Top Virginia Republican would help Metro only with rigorous reforms on labor costs, safety

 

 

 

Virginia’s House majority leader said this week he “would like to help Metro” in the legislative session that starts next month, but only if there are rigorous reforms to restrain labor costs and ensure safety.

 

The comments by Del. M. Kirkland Cox (R-Colonial Heights) underline the political and legislative challenges that face Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s plan to provide dedicated funding for Metro. The outgoing Democratic governor is expected to announce his financing proposal Monday when he releases his final budget.

 

Cox said his caucus would prefer to support Metro via federal legislation recently proposed by Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.). Comstock’s bill would increase Virginia’s contribution to Metro by $25 million a year, which is much less than the transit agency’s request for about $150 million from the state as its share of the money needed to maintain safety and reliability.

 

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

[CNJRoss]

WTOP radio 12/14/17:
 

Metro would get $500M a year under new funding plan

 

 

WASHINGTON — Calling for “swift action,” regional leaders embraced a dedicated funding plan for Metro that would funnel $500 million into the rail system each year for repairs and maintenance.

 

A resolution, passed Wednesday by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments Board of Directors, urges D.C., Maryland, Virginia and the federal government to each chip in $125 million annually.

 

Metro faces more than $15 billion in funding needs over the next decade, according to Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld.

 

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