Section II. Key Issues Facing Transportation
8. Existing Transportation Funding Sources Fall Short
Though current funding from gas taxes and sales taxes provide revenue for all sorts of transportation projects, there is a significant gap between transportation needs and transportation funding. In Santa Cruz County,
- Existing funds are insufficient to finance major transportation improvements, ongoing maintenance, safety, and operational needs of the region.
- State and federal governments no longer pay for local transportation projects at the levels they have in the past.
- The competition for limited state and federal funds favors large urban areas with local sources of revenues, such as local transportation sales taxes.
- State and federal funds are oftentimes unreliable, as funds are regularly diverted to cover non-transportation programs in the state and federal budgets.
- Most existing transportation funds (approximately 85%) are restricted to certain types of projects --- such as airport improvements, transit operations, or highway safety.
- New revenue sources will be needed to make major modifications to our transportation system and to eliminate the backlog of maintenance needs.
- Well intentioned, yet unfunded mandates from the federal, state or local governments place additional financial burdens on local agencies. Examples include the requirement to provide complementary paratransit services for those unable to use fixed route bus service (Americans with Disabilities Act) and the requirement to convert buses to clean air technologies (California Air Resources Board).
- Additional complexities of funding large (multi-year) projects include: attracting and securing federal, state and local fund; minimizing delays to reduce cost inflation (Caltrans estimates include and inflation rate of approximately 3% per year); estimating future tax revenues; and including bonding costs intotal project cost estimates.
- Eighteen of California's counties representing over 80% of the state's population are now "self help" counties which have their own local funding mechanisms. These counties greatly influence funding decisions at the state level.
At current funding levels we can expect congestion to worsen, our local streets and roads to continue to crumble, and bus and paratransit service to diminish unless our community decides to come together and do something about it.