Transportation funding: The rocky road

By Ariel Hart

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A battle at least four years old ended last week, and a new one began. 

That’s when the Georgia Legislature passed House Bill 277, a measure to authorize regions to vote on transportation funding.  Gov. Sonny Perdue’s office must review the final language, but if there are no surprises he will sign it.  If passed, it would be the biggest increase in transportation funding Georgia history. 

So how do we get there?  And for that matter, how did we get here?  Some notes on the long, winding road:

Now what?

• Gov. Sonny Perdue decides whether to sign the bill.

• A regional “roundtable” and a state director of planning appointed by the governor draw up a project list.  The roundtable consists of the county commission chairman and a mayor from each county in the region, though the Atlanta mayor also gets a seat in this region.  That means a big county like Gwinnett or DeKalb has the same vote as a much smaller one like Rockdale.

• The roundtable has the final say, but it can only choose projects from a list provided by the governor’s appointee. They take public comment.

• The roundtable approves the list.  Or doesn’t, in which case “special district gridlock” is declared and the region has no referendum.  Such regions lose out on new state benefits for small local road projects, and they can’t try again for two years.

• If a region approves a list, it goes to the voters for a referendum in 2012, along with a 1 percent sales tax to fund them.

• If voters approve it, money starts flowing and projects get built.

• Ten years later, the tax is over.  The process can begin again.

Where would the money go?

• All of it stays in the region. Most of it goes only to projects on the voter-approved list.

• However, a portion is returned to city and county governments where the tax came from, for whatever they want to build.  Outside the Atlanta region, that’s 25 percent; in the Atlanta region, 15 percent. 

What will they build?

A project list has yet to be assembled, but some advocates wasted no time getting their suggestions out. Some big-name ones:

• The Perimeter Community Improvement District called for a $277 million mass transit line between Cumberland/Galleria, Perimeter Center and Doraville.
• The Beltline
• High-Occupancy Toll lanes: electronically tolled HOV lanes where solo drivers could pay to get out of congestion

MARTA

• The MARTA board is reduced from 18 members to 11.
• For three years the state lifts a restriction on how MARTA can spend its money, freeing up capital reserves to be spent on operations.
• If a new tax is approved, that money can be spent on operations for any new projects, but not on operations of the current system.

We have issues

• In the Legislature, the restrictions on MARTA rankled Atlanta Democrats, while some suburban and rural Republicans weren’t sure the restrictions were enough.  Look for MARTA funding to spark a tug of war.
• Lobbyists for local governments went head-to-head with the governor’s office over control of the project list.  When it’s being drawn up, if the new governor’s planning director can’t agree with the roundtable on a signature project, it could be war.
• Democrats and Republicans argued over whether a regional tax was constitutional.  Look for this one to be decided in the courts.

Moments in the odyssey

February 2007

Rep. Chuck Martin (R-Alpharetta) introduces a bill for regional transportation funding.  The Legislature launches a high-ranking study committee.

April 4, 2008

House and Senate members argue over a statewide or regional tax. With four minutes remaining in the session, a regional measure that passed the House fails in the Senate by three votes.

April 3, 2009

House members start out the session back in disagreement with the Senate, saying the tax should be statewide.  The final negotiation takesplace an hour before the session’s midnight end, and it becomes clear there is no compromise on the agenda. Breaking Capitol social code, a dozen or more lobbyists in the packed room got up in disgust and walked out.

Jan. 14, 2010

Gov. Sonny Perdue, who had opposed new funding or sat on the sidelines for years, says a study he commissioned has made "the business case," and comes forward with his own proposal.

Sources: HB 277; Office of Gov. Sonny Perdue; Perimeter CID; GRTA; ACCG website