Spend Metro taxes on Metro! (Houston, Missouri City: sales, 2014, transfer)

[vegankris]

The future of Houston's public transportation is on the line and it will come down to a vote in November. This is so incredibly important to the future of our city. Please take some time to look this over and consider attending the meeting on June 18th at 6pm to let your voice be heard. If Metro is not allowed to keep its tax dollars then we will have all these beautiful new light rail lines throughout the city, but no money to run them.

Metro board wants tax comments on June 18 - Houston Tomorrow

[oblivionlml]

We need this, I hope Houstonians don't back out at the last second.

[vegankris]

Originally Posted by oblivionlml

We need this, I hope Houstonians don't back out at the last second.

Yes we do! We need to make a HUGE showing at this meeting on June 18th because truly this is a grassroots effort to save an incredibly important system here in Houston.

[Dopo]

...to receive public comments on whether or not to end the diversion of transit sales taxes to 15 cities and unincorporated Harris County.

For decades, Metro has been forced to give about 25% of its sales tax revenue to these other entities. A presentation at the last Metro board meeting showed that most of the cities and Harris County get back more than they contribute. Piney Point Village, for instance, will have contributed $1,492,000 million from 1988-2014, while receiving $23,571,000.

Doesn't surprise me,
I've been wondering for a long time why is it that where there's more taxpayers (city) usually you find the worse roads.

BTW, that's a big reason why everybody moves to the suburbs (where tax money is spent in infrastructure)

[philopower]

Am I reading this wrong. If we vote in favor of metro this November then the university line will be in operation before the 2025 date??? They need to get started on it now.

[oceangaia]

Originally Posted by Dopo

Doesn't surprise me,
I've been wondering for a long time why is it that where there's more taxpayers (city) usually you find the worse roads.

BTW, that's a big reason why everybody moves to the suburbs (where tax money is spent in infrastructure)

Did you look at their presentation? The summary is misleading. While "most" of the multi-cities got back more than they put in, as a whole they put in more than they received. $551 million to $359 million. See page 8.

The big winners were the small rich areas like Piney Point, Bunkers Hill, Hunters Creek. The bigger areas like Bellaire, Katy, and Humble put in far more than received.

Metro doesn't give tax money back out of the generosity of their heart but as part of a negotiated deal. These cities had a good legal basis to be removed from the whole thing since they are not recipients of Metro mass transit and are incorporated.

Go ahead and push for this referendum but be careful what you wish for. Places like Katy and Humble and Missouri City and Bellaire are cash cows, putting tons of tax money into Metro. Don't be surprised if they file lawsuits or get state legislature support to get them cut out of the deal entirely.

[predatorprey]

At this moment I'm neither for or against this proposal, but my gut instinct is to vote against this.

This feels like what California did a few years back, not transferring tax dollars from local governments as required by law to bridge state budget gaps and to maintain their high spending levels.

These developments generally will benefit those who live inside the loop and have limited traffic reductions. Have you seen the cost of the new mixed development housing? Most middle income people cannot afford it as well as who would want to live in such cramp quarters and raise a family.

I don't.

[Truth713]

Originally Posted by predatorprey

At this moment I'm neither for or against this proposal, but my gut instinct is to vote against this.

This feels like what California did a few years back, not transferring tax dollars from local governments as required by law to bridge state budget gaps and to maintain their high spending levels.

These developments generally will benefit those who live inside the loop and have limited traffic reductions. Have you seen the cost of the new mixed development housing? Most middle income people cannot afford it as well as who would want to live in such cramp quarters and raise a family.

I don't.

Then stay in the brubs , the problem is that Houston population is slated to keep growing which means more cars on the highways, the price of gas will continue to ride , hell they had a report that flat out stated in the chron, more and more people are moving back into the core sighting cost of living as one of the main reasons

[predatorprey]

Originally Posted by Truth713

Then stay in the brubs , the problem is that Houston population is slated to keep growing which means more cars on the highways, the price of gas will continue to ride , hell they had a report that flat out stated in the chron, more and more people are moving back into the core sighting cost of living as one of the main reasons

For your information I do not live in the burbs, but just about a block from 610. Infact in the future the metro rail has a stop 1/2 a mile from where I live.

[jeremy2788]

Here is to hoping that the vote goes in the favor of Metro.