Southwestern Pa. Commission opposes diverting highway funds for mass transit
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The board of a 10-county regional planning commission has urged the Legislature to act on the state's transportation funding crisis and signaled its opposition to using federal highway money to provide emergency aid to the Port Authority.
The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission by voice vote on Monday approved a resolution calling on lawmakers to find a permanent solution to the funding shortage brought on by the federal government's rejection of the state's plan to impose tolls on Interstate 80. The rejection created a $472 million funding gap for road and bridge projects and public transit systems in the state, including a $27 million reduction in Port Authority funding for the 2010-11 fiscal year.
The authority has a $50 million projected deficit and has proposed a 35 percent cut in service, layoffs of more than 500 employees and a fare increase, all effective in January, if the state doesn't provide additional funding. Action by the lawmakers is far from certain because of election-year concerns about raising taxes or fees.
In the past, Gov. Ed Rendell has provided temporary cures for funding problems at the Port Authority and SEPTA, Philadelphia's transit agency, by redirecting federal highway money, an action called "flexing." Redirecting the money would require the approval of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, made up of representatives from the 10 counties, several of whom are county commissioners.
In a nonbinding resolution Monday, commission board members signaled their opposition to that option, which Mr. Rendell suggested last week as a last-ditch move if the Legislature failed to approve additional funding for the transit agency. They said flexing highway money would remove the impetus for the Legislature to find a more permanent solution to the statewide problem.
Two board members voted against the motion -- Mark Schneider, a development executive who represents Allegheny County, and Rob Stephany, director of the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority, who represents the city of Pittsburgh.
First Published July 27, 2010 12:00 am
