Breaking the logjam (as appeared in the Post-Gazette, 7/19/07)

The Pennsylvania transportation bill will help hold down property taxes

Thursday, July 19, 2007

By Rep. Don Walko, Allegheny County Democratic Delegation

To preserve the vitality of Pennsylvania's transportation network, the General Assembly needed to approve stable state funding for mass transit, highways and bridges before recessing for the summer.

Fortunately, we were able to break a long-standing deadlock on transportation funding this week. To do so, we had to give Allegheny County new options for raising local money for transportation, but rest assured, the alternative would have meant higher property taxes. That was not a burden we were willing to impose on Allegheny County taxpayers.

For too long, inertia in Harrisburg had allowed Pennsylvania's highways and bridges to deteriorate -- a dramatic example was the collapse of an overpass onto Interstate 70 in Washington County in late 2005.

The deadlock also meant that mass transit systems had to scrape for funding or make cutbacks that hurt the many people who depend on mass transit to get to work, school, religious services or doctors' offices. The only option counties had to fund transit was the property tax, which is a burden for so many homeowners.

In Allegheny County alone, 313 miles of roads are rated in poor condition and 17 state-maintained bridges are closed or weight-restricted because of their condition. Dozens more bridges in the county are rated "structurally deficient." You can see a map that shows them at www.rideonpa.com.

In addition, the Port Authority of Allegheny County was ready to impose a second, drastic round of cutbacks in transit service in September if new funds weren't forthcoming. Many people depend on transit, and the looming second round of cutbacks would have put many more private vehicles on our streets and highways. If the Legislature had not acted, the county's only alternative would have been a property tax hike.

Even though the solution we achieved is not perfect, we believe it represents major progress for Allegheny County. Here's why:

Southwestern Pennsylvania gets $81.8 million, or 21 percent, of the highway funding -- more than any other region, including Philadelphia.

For mass transit, the Port Authority gets $55.1 million, a 39 percent increase in state funding.

Allegheny County gets 21 percent of the funding for county bridge repairs -- $1.04 million, a 23 percent increase over the previous year.

Allegheny County municipalities get more than $2.4 million for road repairs.

Collecting tolls in Interstate 80 will end the free ride for out-of-state drivers. Allegheny County and other Pennsylvania residents have been subsidizing everyone who uses Interstate 80, including the 72 percent of traffic that is only passing through Pennsylvania.

This legislation headed off both a property tax hike and a gas tax hike. It gives Allegheny County two ways to meet its local match requirement for transit funding. One option is a tax of up to 10 percent on alcoholic drinks, and the other is a tax of up to $2 per day on vehicle rentals, which would come mostly from out-of-towners.

While we would have preferred to provide other options for counties and municipalities to provide their local shares of transit funding, compromise was necessary and we chose to approve a plan that is good, not perfect.

It's important to note that the plan gives Allegheny County the option of imposing the vehicle-rental and liquor taxes -- it does not require the county to do either. We expect that the county government will hold hearings and receive public input before acting on either option.

We are proud to have made real progress on fixing Pennsylvania's deteriorating roads and bridges and to have prevented a death-spiral scenario for the mass transit services that so many seniors, people with disabilities and others depend on. And we did it without raising taxes on property or gasoline.