Quote:
Originally Posted by JustColossus
As someone who lives easy walking distance to a RedLine stop and who will have Austin FC season tickets, I'm in the select company that will disproportionately benefit from enhanced light rail coverage in this town therefore following this thread.
To that end, I'm also hoping the "general public" decides to "provide tax dollars to support that outcome."
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They already provide tax dollars to support public transit. A one penny sales tax. Last year, that amounted to $245 million in revenues.
https://www.capmetro.org/uploadedFil...-March2019.pdf
Revenues (in millions)
Sales Tax 245.8
Passenger Fares 22.5
Freight Railroad Revenue 4.5
Other Revenue 4.2 (Investment income above budget)
Operating Contributions and Grants 30.1
Capital Contributions and Grants 28.5
Total $335.6 million
Operating Expenses (in millions)
Salaries and Benefits 44.4
Professional Services 27.2
Materials and Supplies 1.1
Fuel and Fluids 12.8
Utilities 3.2
Insurance 0.9
Purchased Transportation 165.4
Lease/Rentals 3.0
Other Expenses 8.0
Total $266.1 million
Capital Projects (in thousands)
Commuter Rail $22,380 Positive Train Control
Vehicles 29,623 28 Commuter Coaches; 24 Transit Buses
Information Technology 11,665 Enterprise Asset Management System; Data Center Modernization
Facilities 37,295 TIGER Grant Project; Westgate Transit Center; MetroRapid Stations
Freight Railroad 1,907
Property and Asset Mgmt 2,430 Plaza Saltillo - Plaza Revitalization
Contingency 2,000
Strategic Planning 6,472
Security 757
Total $114.530 million
Capital Projects (in thousands)
Commuter Rail 22,380 Positive Train Control
Vehicles 29,623 28 Commuter Coaches; 24 Transit Buses
Information Technology 11,665 Enterprise Asset Management System; Data Center Modernization
Facilities 37,295 TIGER Grant Project; Westgate Transit Center; MetroRapid Stations
Freight Railroad 1,907
Property and Asset Mgmt 2,430 Plaza Saltillo - Plaza Revitalization
Strategic Planning 6,472
Security 757
Total $114.530 million
So, roughly speaking and not trying to exact, about 2/3rds of CapMetro's budget is spent on daily operations and about 1/3rd is spent on capital projects and consultants.
Per Wiki, the City of Austin estimated population is 978,908; keeping the math easier later on, let's round the data point up to 1 million.
On average, every person in Austin is taxed $245 per year to fund CapMetro. Additionally, on average, every person in Austin pays $22 in fares over a year.
The question that needs to be answered, is how much "more" do you wish to tax yourself for better public transit?
The existing budget's revenues barely keeps pace with a $114.5 million capital budget. Can existing revenue streams keep pace with a 10 times larger capital budget? Just about each of the light rail lines projected capital costs is around $1 billion. The answer is yes it can, over 10 years. But that's dedicating all the capital funds into light rail, there would be no money left for buses and other transit projects. To keep them fully funded, that 10 years is now 20 years. Is anyone really wanting light rail willing to wait 20 years for it? So there will be a cry to increase taxes in one form or another to fund light rail.