Measure D: Where Do We Go From Here?

SANTA BARBARA, CA  – The Citizens Planning Foundation will host a freepublic forum on what it would take to create a truly excellent transportation system for Santa Barbara County. Seven of the community's most experienced leaders in transportation policy will discuss Measure D renewal options. Questions will also be taken from the audience.

Measure D is the largest, most flexible funding we have for transportation projects and programs. Approved in 1989, it will expire at the end of 2009, unless elected officials place a Transportation Sales Tax reauthorization on the November ballot and then voters reauthorize it - at existing levels, OR at some other rate. Proposed options could generate over $1.6 BILLION for transportation over the next 30 years, IF a November ballot measure garners a 2/3 vote.

Are any of the packages under consideration really the best?  Come find out at CPFs forum!

Saturday, April 15th, 1:00-3:00pm

Santa Barbara Public Library Main Branch – Faulkner Gallery

40 E. Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara

Panelists include 3rd District County Supervisor Brooks Firestone; SBCAG Board Member Russ Hicks (Buellton City Councilman); Tom Roberts (former Easy Lift Director, former UCSB Transportation/Parking Director, former City Councilman); MTD General Manager Sherrie Fisher and National Transportation Consultant Mark Bradley (Chair of both COAST & the SB Transportation Committee). The forum will be moderated by Santa Barbara County’s Director of Alternative Transportation Planning, Matt Dobberteen.

Download FLYER FOR FORUM [as PDF]

Surprise agreement on transit measure

MELINDA BURNS, NEWS-PRESS SENIOR WRITER

April 6, 2006 12:00 AM

In a rare show of compromise, North and South county leaders tentatively agreed Wednesday to endorse a three-quarter percent sales tax for the November ballot, a measure that would raise $1.6 billion for transportation projects and put highways and mass transit on a more equal footing.

The Santa Barbara County Association of Governments board voted 9-2 in favor at the end of a five-hour workshop at the Marriott in Buellton, noting that the vote was preliminary only, pending more discussion. Two members were absent.

The board majority threw out a plan to put two sales tax measures on the ballot, saying the voters would be confused. Instead, they proposed combining the two. The new measure would continue the long-standing half-percent increase in the sales tax known as Measure D, tacking on an extra quarter-percent. The county's road maintenance backlog and wish list of highway widening projects, commuter trains, bike paths and more buses has been estimated at $3 billion.

Chairman Joe Centeno, county supervisor for the Santa Maria Valley, took the lead on Wednesday, repeatedly urging his colleagues to vote as one. He noted that any sales tax increase would require a two-thirds vote by county residents. That's a change from 1989, when Measure D was approved by a simple majority of county voters. Measure D expires in 2010.

"I'm willing to take the risk," Mr. Centeno said, noting that tax increases are not popular with voters. "If we're fragmented, this thing is going down."

He said his own constituents, residents of such rural outposts as Cuyama, do not take the bus and are dependent on good roads to get around. But he said he would honor the South Coast's "passion" for more transit.

"Why should I in the North County care about how the South spends its money?" he asked. "If they want to stuff it all in transit or rail, that shouldn't matter to me."

To sweeten the pot, board member Salud Carbajal, county supervisor for Carpinteria, Summerland, Montecito and eastern Santa Barbara, said he would not insist that the North County spend its state bus funds on buses. The use of that money for roads -- about $3.5 million yearly -- has provoked several lawsuits by North County bus riders.

"I'm trying to respect the give-and-take," Mr. Carbajal said.

The measure goes to the board for a final vote on April 20. If it is approved, it would make the rounds of city councils and the county Board of Supervisors for an advisory vote. In July, the supervisors would decide whether to put it on the November ballot.

Measure D has generated more than $270 million, 92 percent of which has been used for road repair and highway construction. On Wednesday, members of a coalition of 22 citizens groups, mostly from the South Coast, said they wanted a fair share for public transportation this time.

"We've seen plenty of communities in Southern California that are overcommitted to highways and roads, and they're stuck," said Greg Helms, a spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Action Network. "Their options are limited."

Joel Rodr0x92guez-Flores of the UCSB Association of Students made a plea for buses that would run earlier and later to and from the university for students who work downtown. On weekends, he said, many students who don't own cars are stuck in Isla Vista.

"People talk about how it's a party school, but there is really nothing else we can do," he said, drawing laughter from the audience.

"That's not the way I meant it," Mr. Rodr0x92guez-Flores said. "There's just nothing to do in I.V."

But board member Marty Mariscal, a Santa Maria councilman, said his city was not getting its fair share of highway funding. He proposed to shift more than $70 million in proposed funding for buses, bikes and other "traffic calming" programs to improve the freeway bridges and interchanges in Santa Maria.

"A substantial percentage of the growth in the future is going to be in our valley," Mr. Mariscal said. "We won't be able to meet those needs."

Visibly angry, Mr. Carbajal said: "I don't even know how to react to the city of Santa Maria. Maybe I ought to just collect myself for a moment."

Mr. Centeno intervened, urging Mr. Carbajal not to be hasty. Eventually, Mr. Carbajal and Mr. Mariscal agreed to meet and talk things over.

Board members Dick DeWees, mayor of Lompoc, and Ed Skytt, a Solvang councilman, voted against the measure, saying they did not favor a tax increase.

"I think people are getting sick and tired of having government agencies come before them and ask for more money," Mr. DeWees said.

Board member Jonny Wallis, mayor of Goleta, responded, "I think we've got a great shot. If we don't go forward, we'll have nothing."

e-mail: mburns@newspress.com

Transit tax plan stalls in driveway

MELINDA BURNS, NEWS-PRESS SENIOR WRITER • February 19, 2006

Amid fractious debate, county leaders will be asking the public to weigh in on a 30-year plan to raise $1.6 billion in local sales taxes for transportation, nearly half of it for buses, bicycles, safe sidewalks and commuter rail.

As drawn up by Tramutola LLC, an Oakland-based consulting firm hired by the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments, the proposal calls for two ballot measures in November: Measure A, which would continue the present half-percent increase in the sales tax for transportation, and Measure B, which would levy a new quarter-percent increase. Measure B would go into effect only if Measure A passed as well.

The 13-member association board, made up of the five county supervisors and eight city council members from cities around the county, took pains to say last week that it has not endorsed the plan. In fact, several members said they didn't like it at all.

"Tramutola has totally and completely missed the point and gotten out in front of the board," Supervisor Joni Gray of Orcutt angrily told her colleagues Thursday. "I'm not prepared to support it at this time."

If approved as proposed, the A-plus-B plan would represent a fundamental shift in the way the county chooses to spend its transportation dollars, allocating 45 percent of the total for alternatives to cars.

In the past, 92 percent of the local sales tax money for transportation has been used to repair roads and build highways, and only 8 percent has gone toward improving services for bus riders, bicyclists and pedestrians. MORE

LOCAL TRANSPORTATION SALES TAXES
California's Experiment in Transportation Finance

by Amber Crabbe, Rachel Hiatt, Susan D. Poliwka, Martin Wachs
California Policy Research Center -- University of California

Excerpt from page 20:

However, regional planning has suffered in Santa Barbara County because a large proportion (70%) of the revenue was returned directly to local jurisdictions within the county. According to the county, transit suffered because none of the local jurisdictions allocated local money for transit, and there was insufficient revenue left to program transit regionally...

DOWNLOAD ENTIRE REPORT AS .PDF

South Coast Sub-Regional Planning Committee Staff Report on Commuter Rail Development From their March 1, 2006 meeting [PDF]

The Balanced A+B Plan  
February 9, 2006

Place two 30-year measures on the ballot. Measure A is a continuation of the existing ½ cent sales tax for transportation. Measure B would be a new ¼ cent sales tax providing additional funding for transportation. Measure B would take effect only if Measures A passes. Total revenues: $1.575 billion. MORE