“You have to understand that those numbers could move significantly down,” Salas said at the meeting. While the 10-year, half-cent sales tax for street repairs, public safety and other upgrades was approved by voters in 2016, the measure saw a decline in support in the run-up to the election. However, to get the measure passed, the agency will have to have to be “incredibly sharp” in coming months, Fletcher added.Ĭhula Vista Mayor Mary Salas voiced concern about the polling numbers, citing her city’s efforts to pass Measure P. “To go into something that’s never been done and have an incredible base of support that’s right at the two-thirds cusp should be really encouraging,” Fletcher said at the meet on Feb. MTS only gained the ability to raise its own tax revenue in 2017 as the result of a bill spearheaded by Fletcher’s wife, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez-Fletcher, D-San Diego. “Relative to similar-size agencies in the country, they actually have some of the highest farebox-recovery rates.”ĭuring a recent special MTS board meeting to discuss the tax measure and the campaign to pass it, dubbed Elevate2020, elected officials expressed mixed reactions to the polling data.Ĭounty Supervisor and board chair Nathan Fletcher remained optimistic while recognizing the challenge of trying to increase taxes exclusively for public transit, something that’s fairly rare in California. “MTS as an agency as an operator, they do very well,” he added. “We’re in conversations with MTS in terms of how they’re designing it, and it’s under review. “It’s really important that the voting public has trust that whatever money is going to be spent on future projects is going to be used well,” said Haney Hong, president and CEO of the Taxpayers Association. Both agencies supported a SANDAG tax measure in 2016 to expand transit and freeways, but it ultimately failed to clear the two-thirds majority hurdle. The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and the San Diego Taxpayers Association have said they will reserve judgment on the proposal until final ballot language is released this spring. “It’s on the knife’s edge,” he added, saying that passage of the measure will likely come down to whether a well-funded opposition emerges in coming months. “That’s an advantage that they come into this very difficult campaign with.” “Based on the numbers, you see they’re popular and more popular than other transit agencies,” said Thad Kousser, chair of the political science department of UC San Diego. Giving supporters hope, the survey also found that around 66 percent of San Diegans had a favorable impression of MTS, higher than public support for Caltrans and double that of SANDAG, the region’s long-range planning and transportation agency. That area excludes those living in coastal cities from Del Mar north, as well as Vista, San Marcos, Escondido, Ramona and Valley Center. Only residents living in MTS’s service territory would vote on the tax. The MTS board of directors is expected to vote on a final project list and wording for the agency’s ballot measure by early April. Rather, the agency has proposed including seed money in its measure to help the San Diego Association of Governments - or SANDAG - start planning a rail project along the alignment that would require a separate tax increase being eyed for 2022. Notably, MTS has abandoned the idea of building a long-envisioned Purple Line trolley between Chula Vista and Kearny Mesa. It includes, among other things, a trolley extension to the San Diego International Airport, a massive increase in bus service including new Rapid lines with dedicated lanes, and elevated trolley tracks at high-traffic intersections to reduce delays for drivers. The agency just released an updated draft expenditure plan for a 50-year tax hike that would raise a total of $24 billion, doubling the agency’s current annual budget of $300 million. Tony Krvaric, chairman of the The Republican Party of San Diego County.
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