Opinion by: E.
Eugene Webb PhD
This past Wednesday Brad Miller, PSTA CEO, laid out the PSTA fiscal forecast for the next few years. Things are dismal to
say the least.
By fiscal year 2018, PSTA faces an almost insurmountable capital
and operating budget deficit.
In many ways this is a self inflicted wound.
At this point, given the horrendous defeat the Greenlight
plan took at the poles and all of the improper and inappropriate activity of
PSTA leadership and its supporters to get the Greenlight plan adopted, it is hard
to say that a more conservative approach might have worked.
PSTA and its Board would like the voters to believe they are
responsible for the current PSTA plight and that Greenlight was defeated because
voters were greedy and didn't want another tax.
I for one don't buy that for one minute.
As I have stated before, the Greenlight Ordinance was the
worst tax initiative Ordinance I had every read. You can go back in my Posts
and refresh your memory about the Greenlight Ordinance at GreenLight
Pinellas - An Analysis of Ordinance 13- 34 .
As I sat through the Wednesday PSTA Board meeting, it was
hard to feel very sympathetic for an administration and a Board that tried to
put one over on the public and got their hands slapped.
Public transportation here in the bay area is in real
trouble. In Polk, Hillsborough, Pinellas and Manatee County voters have
rejected grand plans to build transit systems. I don't know how many times public
transportation authorities and their Boards of directors have to get boxed
about the ears before they realize a more conservative approach is more likely
to work.
In his comments to the Board, Miller mentioned a more
"regional" approach, that is simply political speak for we have to
get these funding issues out of the reach of actual public approval. Those
watching PSTA, Hart and other transit authorities must remain diligent.
Mayor Bob Buckhorn's public transit funding idea of a
"local taxing district", Saintpetersblog,
Janelle Irwin:
Tampa Mayor’s push for special taxing district could be St. Pete transit win,
is not likely to fly either since it would tax a small area and apply the tax
to a county wide problem. Not the brightest idea for a guy thinking about
running for Governor.
Miller proposed some ideas to smooth out the PSTA budget
problems, and the whole issue of Federal and State funding remains a big unknown.
The PSTA Board has three new members and a new Chairman. On February
18, they will take up the PSTA funding issue in a budget workshop. They have a
lot to chew on.
Where will PSTA go, how will it get there and where will the
money come from? The PSTA Board has some tough decisions to make, and so far
this Board has been lackluster at best.
Let's hope that some new blood and a new Chairman can make a
difference.
E-mail Doc at: dr.webb@verizon.net. Or
send me a Facebook (Gene Webb) Friend request. Twitter@DOCONTHEBAY. Please comment
below, and be sure to share on Facebook and Twitter. See Doc's Photo Gallery at
Bay Post Photos
No comments:
Post a Comment