Ga. transportation deal seen as basis of solutions (BusinessWeek)
Some state and local officials see a sweeping solution to metro Atlanta’s gridlock woes in the transportation bill approved this week by the Georgia Legislature, calling it a watershed development that will secure the state’s position as the South’s economic engine.
But the money won’t arrive until three years from now at the earliest, and critics say the bill doesn’t do enough to rescue Atlanta’s cash-starved transit system.
Three years in the making, the legislation that won overwhelming approval Wednesday in the House and Senate will divide Georgia into 12 regions and ask voters in each region whether to hike the sales tax by 1 cent to pay for roads, bridges and rail projects in that part of the state. Only those regions that approve the sales tax increase would have the money to spend.
The vote would take place during the 2012 presidential primary, giving officials time to educate voters and select projects that would receive funding.
“While any new funding is three years away, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Matt Hicks, with the Georgia Association of County Commissioners Georgia said. “Georgia needs transportation funding and the county commissioners are going to do whatever they can to make what the Legislature has passed is successful.”
If metro-Atlanta voters approve it, the bill would also give the MARTA transit system more flexibility to spend its reserve money on new projects. MARTA does not get state funding.
Beverly Scott, general manager and chief executive of MARTA, said the bill isn’t a panacea, but does mark a watershed moment in the state’s transportation efforts. Even though MARTA will not get all the help it needs to address a $120 million shortfall in its current budget, Scott said she expects whatever regional projects are conceived in the coming years will also affect MARTA.
“This is only a beginning step,” she said. “There’s still a lot more work that has to be done, but this puts us in a much better position than we were 36 hours ago … given that we’ve been batting zero on transportation for the better part of a decade.”
Legislators have struggled for years to strike a deal on transportation, working to end some of the worst gridlock in the nation in metro Atlanta and in Georgia, the ninth-largest state. Business leaders have pressed hard for a transportation funding plan, saying the state’s spending has not kept pace with its explosive growth.
Last year’s effort to authorize regional transportation tax hikes failed in the waning hours of the session.
This year, Gov. Sonny Perdue got involved. So did newly elected Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.
Perdue acknowledged that the money would not come right away but said the proposal stood a better chance of winning voter approval with the economy further along the path to recovery
In the meantime, he has proposed an additional $300 million in borrowing for the coming fiscal year to jump start road projects in Georgia.
Spending on transportation in Georgia has lagged well behind the state’s population growth. Georgia spends the second lowest per capita in the country on transportation, ahead of only Tennessee. Road projects in Georgia are funded mostly with money from the state’s gasoline tax, but those revenues have tumbled amid recession.
Neill Herring, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club and a frequent critic of the transportation legislation, said the measure does not represent real progress on Georgia’s multiple transportation needs, but only kicks the can down the road.
“The bill represents only the slightest advance over the present miserable situation,” Herring said. “It addresses, but does not solve, MARTA’s financial problems of two years ago and contemplates waiting at least two years before dealing with any other transportation problems. The next governor is going to have to do all of this all over again.”
In a joint statement after the vote, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker David Ralston praised the collaborative effort between both chambers and the governor’s office to pass the bill.
“Just as our state has many diverse transportation needs, a funding mechanism should respect the diverse regional needs and should have the approval of voters,” the statement read.
“Our regional approach is a flexible and optional solution, which allows for true local input and influence of transportation projects.”
By ERRIN HAINES
