Media contact: Carolyn Marinan, Communications, 612-348-5969
Following last week’s public hearing, the Hennepin County Board of
Commissioners will vote tomorrow on a proposed sales tax increase supporting
county transit and transportation projects.
“Transit is an essential piece of our transportation network,”
said Hennepin County Commissioner and Hennepin County Regional Railroad
Authority Chair Peter McLaughlin. “We made it past potential legislative road
blocks, and we are moving forward to secure more local funding for key transit
projects.
“We have long wanted more reliable, flexible local funding to achieve
a successful regional transit system that benefits our residents and
businesses. That is what this new sales tax would deliver.”
Proposed sales tax increase
A proposed new half-cent sales tax imposed by Hennepin County
would replace the current quarter-cent sales tax by the county for the Counties
Transit Improvement Board (CTIB) — for a net quarter-cent increase on taxable
goods and services in Hennepin County. A $20 excise tax on new car sales would
replace a current CTIB tax, supporting county transit projects.
On May 31, CTIB voted to dissolve its five-county joint powers
board and end its quarter-cent sales tax, making way for each individual county
to vote in support of the dissolution and impose a replacement sales tax, up to
a half-cent under state statute.
Should tomorrow’s vote pass in Hennepin County and the other
four CTIB counties, the current quarter-cent sales tax will end on September
30, 2017, and Hennepin County’s half-cent replacement sales tax will begin on
October 1, 2017.
Projects eligible to be funded
With the dissolution of CTIB, Hennepin County would be taking on
responsibility for funding a larger portion of transit projects located within
the county, including CTIB’s 30 percent share of capital costs and 50 percent
of net operating costs, plus the state’s 10 percent share of capital costs.
“We are working to step into the shoes of CTIB and the state,
and to do this seamlessly, to fund transit lines that come into our county and
benefit our entire region,” McLaughlin said.
If the half-cent replacement sales tax takes effect in Hennepin
County, the estimated annual county revenue could be as high as $125 million
initially. This is projected to be enough to cover the local share of capital
and operating costs for the county’s current and future transit lines through
2036.
These transit lines include the current Blue Line, Green Line
and Northstar Commuter Rail, and the future Southwest LRT (Green Line
Extension), Bottineau LRT (Blue Line Extension), I-35W South BRT (Orange Line)
and Riverview Corridor.
Revenues from the sales tax also have the potential to cover
county transportation projects and improvements, for example road and bridge
work planned in the county’s Capital Improvement Program.
Read the
full sales and use transportation tax implementation plan.
Advancing our regional vision
Future transit lines in Hennepin County will require matching
funds from the Federal Transit Administration’s New Starts program — up to
approximately 50 percent of capital costs on Southwest and Bottineau.
Should those funds be available in 2018 and beyond, Southwest
and Bottineau will be well-positioned to receive them. Both projects received
medium-high ratings from the FTA in May and have been approved by the FTA to
enter the engineering phase of development.
“We are faced with raising our sales tax to shoulder what was to
have been a state responsibility when CTIB began. These are tough decisions,
but necessary for the promise of projects like Bottineau LRT to become
reality,” said Hennepin County Commissioner and Public Works Committee Chair
Mike Opat.
“If we don’t build transit options, our economy and mobility
will suffer,” said Hennepin County Board Chair Jan Callison. “Valuable
community and economic development opportunities will be lost, our ability to
attract and retain workers will be reduced, and our roads will be more
congested.”
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Look for more news on the Hennepin County website at www.hennepin.us/news.
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