Metro compromise ? (Houston, Dallas, Richmond: sales, construction, maintenance)

[Truth713]

Parker moving toward Metro ‘compromise’ - Houston Tomorrow

[predatorprey]

You know if Parker has her way the outlaying cities will not take it laying down. I would assume they will no longer charge their residences the 1% sales taxes in their jurisdiction.

Metro is just going to **** away much of the money on the super expensive light rail.

[Truth713]

Originally Posted by predatorprey

You know if Parker has her way the outlaying cities will not take it laying down. I would assume they will no longer charge their residences the 1% sales taxes in their jurisdiction.

Metro is just going to **** away much of the money on the super expensive light rail.

yes so we should wait longer for rail because it will get cheaper ????

[Lost_In_Translation]

Originally Posted by predatorprey

You know if Parker has her way the outlaying cities will not take it laying down. I would assume they will no longer charge their residences the 1% sales taxes in their jurisdiction.

Metro is just going to **** away much of the money on the super expensive light rail.

Probably, but atleast it's benefting the city of Houston somewhat as opposed to tollway 99.

[CoderGeek]

Originally Posted by Lost_In_Translation

Probably, but atleast it's benefting the city of Houston somewhat as opposed to tollway 99.

What does the city of Houston have to do with Tollway 99? I know the segment south of 1093 to 59 is being funded by Fort Bend County and overseen by the FBGPTRA... nothing about the city of Houston. Can't speak to other segments though, haven't done my homework on those.

[micmac99]

Why is no one even remotely talking about replacing the loss of the METRO road/street money with an alternative that is arguably the most fair way to go about this for all concerned:

A one or two cent increase in the state gasoline tax, statewide, with the additional revenue collected by the state to go towards non-freeway road and street construction/maintenance, distributed to cities and counties on a formula basis.

Yes, I know there is a cap on sales tax in Texas, but as far as I can tell, that does NOT affect the gasoline tax which is an excise tax.

And I wonder if it's even possible for the gas tax increase to be implemented ONLY on a county-by-county basis - but I would think that cities statewide are just as much in need of more money for crumbling and growing street/road infrastructure as Houston is - especially the rural communities in Texas.

If any suburbs secede from METRO because of the loss of road funding alone, they frankly are being stubborn and short-sighted. Why would they throw away access to bus service and possible light rail service because they are mad about not getting street maintenance money?

And if it's just of matter of "how come we don't have a regular, non-park-and-ride, local bus route in our town" all they need to do is submit a proposal, ridership projections, a diagram of the route, etc., and I'm sure METRO will consider it. The suburbs arguably need bus service just as much as the city of Houston does.

Houston is the fifth largest metropolitan area in America, and one of the few compared to its peer areas nationwide where (among other stupidities) the suburbs are largely inaccessible by regular bus to the central city. Unacceptable.

[micmac99]

Originally Posted by predatorprey

You know if Parker has her way the outlaying cities will not take it laying down. I would assume they will no longer charge their residences the 1% sales taxes in their jurisdiction.

Metro is just going to **** away much of the money on the super expensive light rail.

Houston is the fifth largest metro area in America. And it's totally unacceptable and stupid that we only have a seven-mile starter system eight years after it opened. Many cities have surpassed Houston with light rail systems that have heavy ridership, including Phoenix, Dallas, Los Angeles, St. Louis among others.

It is also unacceptable and stupid that there is no direct light rail link from downtown Houston to either of its major international airports.

We are lagging behind our peer cities nationwide as far as mass transit and that must change NOW.

Not reclaiming as much of those revenues means METRO really does not have a true 1% sales tax - only a 3/4 cent sales tax in effect, with a 1/4 cent road and local highway sales tax that really has nothing to do with transit.

The better way to go would be to allow for the compromise: cap the general mobility payments and let the remainder go to transit. How anyone can not see the fairness in that baffles me, but an even MORE fair way to do this - and one that would arguably give the Houston suburbs and Harris County AND the city of Houston as much, if not more, revenue for street and road construction/repair - would be to increase the state gasoline tax by one or two pennies - VERY affordable to the majority of Texas motorists as we have one of the lowest gas taxes in the nation - and have the state redirect the extra funds exclusively to cities and counties for local, non-freeway roads.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Originally Posted by CoderGeek

What does the city of Houston have to do with Tollway 99? I know the segment south of 1093 to 59 is being funded by Fort Bend County and overseen by the FBGPTRA... nothing about the city of Houston. Can't speak to other segments though, haven't done my homework on those.

The tax that Metro imposes goes to general transportation improvements in and around Houston and Harris County. Tollway 99 gets some of this money. There was a discussion about these funds in another thread.

[predatorprey]

Originally Posted by Truth713

yes so we should wait longer for rail because it will get cheaper ????

I do not think it is an efficient use of money for mobility 1.6 billion for the light rail expansion not including the "Richmond" line that was supposed to be built on west park... Heck I10 expansion didn't cost that much

Lets also think about this, the vast majority of growth is in the suburbs and surrounding cities NOT Houston proper. Why is it does metro want to take more of the money and spend it on rail where the MAJORITY of the people will barely use. How does this reduce traffic? Also why do we want to give metro more money? Haven't they proved to us that the organization is really poorly managed and tends to over promise and under performs consistently.

[Truth713]

Originally Posted by micmac99

Why is no one even remotely talking about replacing the loss of the METRO road/street money with an alternative that is arguably the most fair way to go about this for all concerned:

A one or two cent increase in the state gasoline tax, statewide, with the additional revenue collected by the state to go towards non-freeway road and street construction/maintenance, distributed to cities and counties on a formula basis.

Yes, I know there is a cap on sales tax in Texas, but as far as I can tell, that does NOT affect the gasoline tax which is an excise tax.

And I wonder if it's even possible for the gas tax increase to be implemented ONLY on a county-by-county basis - but I would think that cities statewide are just as much in need of more money for crumbling and growing street/road infrastructure as Houston is - especially the rural communities in Texas.

If any suburbs secede from METRO because of the loss of road funding alone, they frankly are being stubborn and short-sighted. Why would they throw away access to bus service and possible light rail service because they are mad about not getting street maintenance money?

And if it's just of matter of "how come we don't have a regular, non-park-and-ride, local bus route in our town" all they need to do is submit a proposal, ridership projections, a diagram of the route, etc., and I'm sure METRO will consider it. The suburbs arguably need bus service just as much as the city of Houston does.

Houston is the fifth largest metropolitan area in America, and one of the few compared to its peer areas nationwide where (among other stupidities) the suburbs are largely inaccessible by regular bus to the central city. Unacceptable.

Which is why she is seeking a compomise it may be asking for a split found indpendent of the metro could be the only viable choice