The polls are open for early voting in Connecticut. And while the national and state races occupy most of voters’ attentions, there is one thing noticeably absent on their ballots: transportation.
“Transportation in Connecticut
is like the weather,” said one cynic. “We
all complain about it but don’t think there’s much we can do to change it.”
Mind you, Connecticut voters
have had ballot questions focused on transportation issues in the past. In 2018 they approved a Constitutional amendment
to put a “lock box” on the Special Transportation Fund, hopefully guaranteeing
that money raised through the gas tax is spent only on transportation, not
treated as a petty cash box for legislators looking to balance the budget as it
has been in the past.
That initiative was approved
by an 88% margin.
But a September
poll of Connecticut voters commissioned by CTMirror showed that the economy
was top-most on their list of worries along with immigration, housing and the
deficit.
Of course, fixing our
transportation woes is really just a matter of money and how to raise it. And with utility costs soaring (and the
Governor apparently unmoved by 68,000
petition signatures gathered to protest that issue), the idea of doing
something like raising taxes doesn’t seem to be on the table in the Nutmeg
state.
Not so, elsewhere. November’s ballot will see a number of such
initiatives across the nation, totaling $50
billion in possible spending.
Take Nashville TN for
example. That burgeoning city has some
of the worst
commuting delays in the US. While in
2018 a proposal to spend $5 billion on a transit system was defeated
by a two to one margin, residents are reconsidering the idea this year. The
new “Choose How You Move” plan would spend $3 billion on roads, traffic
signals, pedestrian infrastructure and, yes, rails… using federal money and a
half-cent sales tax.
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| Phoenix Light Rail |
In Seattle that city voted to
tax its residents for transportation spending in 2006, 2015 and they’re back
again. Seattle’s Proposition 1 would raise
$1.55 billion over eight years through a property tax levy of about $44 a month
for the typical home. Polling looks like
it, too, will be approved.
While some cities turn to
sales or property taxes to fund transportation, not so in Connecticut where we
depend on “user fees” (gasoline taxes).
But as more drivers convert to electric cars, a gas tax alone won’t cut
it. We will have to find other funding
sources… if there is any appetite for anything that raises the cost of
living in our beautiful, but road-clogged state.
Meantime, what the heck is
going on with this October drought?!
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