Sales tax change, cuts threaten SARTA’s plans
SARTA's first three hydrogen-powered fuel cell buses are expected to make their debut on
He also wants to establish synchronized service with neighboring transit agencies to make it easier for riders to travel between counties on public transit. That would include the agencies using the same fare boxes, so riders could use one transit pass card on all three systems. And SARTA has applied for a federal grant to develop software to coordinate service with ride hailing companies like Uber and
But budget pressures from the state and the federal government could upend those plans.
In
The change is related to a federal mandate that the state is not allowed to apply state, county and transit sales taxes to spending by Medicaid Managed Care Organizations, which arrange services for Medicaid recipients, and not apply the tax to private health insurers.
Possible effects
Conrad said if that happens, he would be forced to eliminate Saturday service, eliminate service after
On top of that, Conrad said, the Trump administration has proposed 43-percent funding cut to the
Even if
SARTA would have to decide whether to cut services further to fund the purchases of new buses, facility upgrades and equipment. And any program to use Uber or
"If the federal cuts go through as proposed, it would be pretty devastating for transit not only in
Lobbying effort
SARTA's chief is also the board president of the
His more immediate concern is persuading top
But Gov.
He pointed to comments in testimony Thursday before the state budget Conference Committee by the state's budget director,
"The administration has been quite clear that we do not believe that a permanent replacement is in order given the fact that this sales tax base item has only existed for a five or six year period of time," Keen said. "And it doesn't make sense to us to replace ... revenue permanently, revenue that has only been available for a temporary period of time."
Charlton said he did not have information on how the administration determined that a user fee to offset the state's revenue loss from the sales tax change was not excessive but yet a user fee to offset the transit agencies' and counties' revenue losses would be excessive.
Conrad said that while the MCO sales tax revenue was new revenue after 2009 it has not replaced the sales tax dollars lost due to the 2008 to 2009 recession if rising costs to the agency are taken into account.
Conrad said about 4,000 riders use SARTA buses on Saturdays.
If SARTA has to eliminate Saturday service due to the loss of MCO sales tax revenue, "how are they going to work? It's not going to improve the economic situation in our community," he said.
Eleventh hour
State Rep.
Schuring said such a fix has not been included in the
"We've got ideas that we think could win the day. ... We're looking to make something that's going to be sustainable for a long period of time," said Schuring, who as as the Speaker Pro Tempore is the second highest ranking member of the House Republican leadership team. "We're in the 9th inning, and it's not over yet."
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On Twitter: @rwangREP
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