TransNet compromise dead

By: KATHERINE MARKS - Staff Writer | Saturday, July 17, 2004 12:02 AM PDT ∞

Any chance of changing a controversial sales tax ballot measure died this week, a victim of conflicting interests and the clock. Two elected officials who had been working to change the division of revenue from a half-cent sales tax for transportation, a measure known as TransNet, said Friday that there was no chance of a compromise.

Without a new deal, the plan will go before voters in November as is: with revenues divided roughly into thirds among freeways, public transportation and surface streets.

Three San Diego County Supervisors, all of whom represent suburban and rural areas of the county, were trying to change the tax plan, saying public transportation projects would get too big a share of the $14 billion in revenues the sales tax extension is expected to generate.

The board of the San Diego Association of Governments, a regional transportation planning agency, is pushing the measure as is, saying the plan provides a balanced approach to the area's transportation needs.

Elected officials said Friday the chance to compromise and create a different plan for voters had passed.

"I think any possible TransNet compromise is dead," said County Supervisor Dianne Jacob, who along with Supervisors Bill Horn and Pam Slater-Price opposed the TransNet plan. "I remain opposed to the measure. It's very flawed. My hope is in November voters defeat it and send SANDAG back to the drawing board."

The three supervisors wanted at least 50 percent of the revenues to go to freeways and 33 percent to local roads.

Jacob also opposes a provision in the measure that would allow projects to be changed or deleted with a 2/3 vote of the association's board because she says voters are being led to believe they are approving a specific set of projects.

The tax has been levied since 1988 and expires in 2008. If approved, the measure will extend the tax through 2048.

Backers are hoping the higher turnout of this year's presidential election will boost their chances of getting the super majority needed to pass the measure.

Jacob and Poway Mayor Mickey Cafagna, the chairman of the association's board of directors, had been meeting to try to work out a compromise to a plan that was sent to the County Registrar's Office in June.

Cafagna said that the differences were too great between the two sides: "For all intents and purposes, it's not a real possibility."

The deadline to make changes to the measure, called Proposition A, is August 6, Registrar Sally McPherson said Friday.

Even if the conversations between the association and supervisors had borne fruit, time ran out this week.

Jack Limber, the general counsel for association, said that an amendment would have to be approved in two readings and the final reading would have had to have come at a regularly scheduled meeting. The next regular meeting is July 23 and there are no regular meetings in August. If a compromise had been cobbled together, then it could have been considered at a special meeting. Such a meeting would have had to have been five days before the regular meeting to comply with state law, he said. That date came and went Friday.

The agency would have had to provide at least 72 hours notice to the public about a special meeting, Limber said. "We're out of time."

Cafagna said that there was a chance for compromise during early talks. In the end, "philosophical differences" over the benefits of mass transit were too great, he said.

The supervisors' thinking may be in line with their rural constituents, he said referring to Horn, Jacob and Slater-Price, but it's not in line with the majority of county residents who support public transportation and want to see it expanded.

"The reason we're at loggerheads is because we have to get 66 2/3 (percent approval to pass)," Cafagna said.

If money is taken away from public transportation, environmentalists and other groups won't vote for TransNet, he said.

If passed, TransNet will be a part of a larger regional transportation plan called Mobility 2030. The $42 billion plan approved last year by the SANDAG board includes $7.8 billion in TransNet money through 2030 and money from federal and state sources.

The total plan dedicates $16 billion to public transportation, $15.4 billion to freeways, $9.6 billion to surface streets and $830 million to bicycle and pedestrian programs, to promote smart growth and to manage transportation systems.

SANDAG is required to review that plan every three years. It approved the most recent plan last year.

Contact staff writer Katherine Marks at (760) 740-3529 or kmarks@nctimes.com.

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