tefen
03-10-2008, 10:24 PM
A quick gem from tonight's Lincoln Neighborhood Meeting.
First the background:
In order for Light Rail to come to Vancouver, the Columbia River Crossing project must figure out how to pay for the "capital costs" which are construction costs, and "maintenance and operation costs" which are the annual costs of electricty, drivers, etc... The likely way to fund this is through sales tax increases which would have to be put before Clark County voters... Without either cost being funded, it's likely that High Capacity Transit would be dead in the water (and possibly the whole project in the opinion of the representative from the city and from the CRC group).
We've already heard how the plan is to get the Minimum Operable Segment of Light Rail fully funded through federal dollars which, if it could be pulled off, would fulfill the capital costs needs without requiring a vote.
Now here's the gem: Thayer Rorabaugh mentioned that it's unclear whether or not they can use the tolls collected on the new bridge to fund the Maintenance and Operations costs which would require .... no vote.
First the background:
In order for Light Rail to come to Vancouver, the Columbia River Crossing project must figure out how to pay for the "capital costs" which are construction costs, and "maintenance and operation costs" which are the annual costs of electricty, drivers, etc... The likely way to fund this is through sales tax increases which would have to be put before Clark County voters... Without either cost being funded, it's likely that High Capacity Transit would be dead in the water (and possibly the whole project in the opinion of the representative from the city and from the CRC group).
We've already heard how the plan is to get the Minimum Operable Segment of Light Rail fully funded through federal dollars which, if it could be pulled off, would fulfill the capital costs needs without requiring a vote.
Now here's the gem: Thayer Rorabaugh mentioned that it's unclear whether or not they can use the tolls collected on the new bridge to fund the Maintenance and Operations costs which would require .... no vote.