House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo will advocate for a significantly smaller transportation finance plan than the one proposed by Governor Deval Patrick, according to a speech he plans to give to business leaders Thursday morning.
In a copy of the planned remarks, DeLeo delivers the clearest indication yet of how Patrick’s ambitious transportation proposal — which includes an average of $1 billion a year or more in taxes and fees — has been received by influential state lawmakers.
Comments
What planet does DeLeo live on? Patrick hasn't "made a proposal", he has pointed out a necessity. Boston is going to curl up and die if this work isn't done. The work costs money - tough luck. Plus, Patrick's tax plan is very progressive and goes easy on low income wage earners.
Some stuff you just have to do. DeLeo should get out of the way.
And you want the people of Springfield and other far-flug parts of the state to pay for it. Typical Boston-centric view.
Thanks, Kosta. For "mba73", transportation investments are needed all over the state, and we need a funding plan to fix up our roads and regional bus systems, as well as the T. The plan that was presented by MassDOT includes significant new funds for cities and towns to fix up the roads as well as for the Regional Transit Authority in Springfield. Agreed that we have to be fair to all regions in how we fund transportation.
The big problem with DeLeo is he could throw a wrench into a much needed plan that could help Boston remain a functioning city instead of a cluster of dysfunctional neighborhoods. DeLeo and his supporters mst live in a different Boston than I do. The commuter rails cannot tolerate any more cuts in service. Pretty soon, Boston will have a pricey T system that goes nowhere and only goes nowhere a few times each day. DeLeo needs to visit other cities and realize Greater Boston's highway system is broken. It also lacks proper funding. I fully support cutting out the waste from any government entity, but riding in broken rail cars is going to force me to drive my car on roads loaded with potholes and patched up interchanges. Good luck Governor Patrick!
Cranky there is a state outside of Boston. How much benefit will the people of Adams get from paying more taxes to support the MBTA?
mba73, you can see the detailed breakdown by house or senate district here: http://www.mass.gov/governor/agenda/choose-growth.html
I think you will find that it includes quite a bit of money for projects outside of the metro Boston area, including resurfacing of many roads in Berkshire county and lots of funding for bridge much needed bridge rehab as well as funding to restore rail server between Pittsfield and NYC.
If anything I think DeLeo's trepidations are likely to result in more of what previous transportation funding bills have done: Just enough funding to close the budget gap at the MBTA, and zero expansion of anything in western Mass.
Kool aid drinkers! The last gas tax increase in 1992 was earmarked for roads etc, yet the pinhead pols put that money into teh gernal fund a few years later and have spent it ever since on everything but. You trust them again???
First of all, it was mainly Romney that did this, and he's not in office anymore. Second, the gas tax only pays for half of our transportation expenses anyway, so more typically the money goes in the other direction (with cash from the general fund going to shore up transportation funding).
It doesn't make sense to oppose a logical tax increase *forever* just because you don't like how it has been spent in the past. The only thing we get under that system is more decaying roads and bridges and train that are decrepit, infrequent, and don't run on time.
Also, the gas tax is not indexed to inflation, so it has been funding a steadily smaller portion of the transportation fund since it was last raised. It definitely makes sense not only to raise it *at least* back to its 1992 purchasing power, but also to then index it to inflation. If we could afford it in 1992, I think we can afford it now.
So Romney was Governor in 1994? You are sadly misformed!
This comment has been removed.
This comment has been removed.
Our best work in state government is done by legislative leaders just before their indictment comes down. Good work, Bob!
The only people spared by Deval's tax increases are on welfare...frankly, I can't afford any more taxes. My daughter will be starting college soon and the prospect that Deval wantsto tax any scholarship she might get and prevent student loan interest reduction makes it scarier. Also, until we can balance what exists in the T and make sure the trains and buses are safe, we should not even consider extending or adding lines. When your roof is caving in and you are defaulting on your mortgage, you don't add on a family room. Fix what you got and pay for it! And only then think about expansion! Everyone wants more, but the government needs to temper that with reality.
"The only people spared by Deval's tax increases are on welfare"
This is silly. People on welfare are not going to be paying income tax in any case. What Patrick's plan does is to raise the basic rate across the board, but effectively lowers the bill for the middle class by means of targeted deductions. Please read the actual tax framework that's on the table before making such panicky statements. As for your "caving roof" metaphor, your basic idea is correct. But you don't seem to understand that, in the case of the MBTA, expanding the system parallel to the demographic and economic growth of the metro area served is integral to "fixing what you've got." The fact is that the MBTA has been diminishing it's service delivery since at least the 1980's, just when it should have been growing. Thanks to the constellation of communities that recieve inferior (or nonexistent) service, greater Boston, the principal economic engine not just of Massachusetts, but of the whole region, is now experiencing an unsustainable dependence on private automobiles that threatens to paralyze the entire city. Isn't that worth fixing?
You people calling for all this spending are insane. Just pay for the needed upkeep. Now is not the time for crazy projects like rail service to Springfield or Fall River.
Look, we've seen the tax hike mambo before. Admittedly not recently but the memory of Dukakis lives on. The governor wants to tax us all back to the stone age and then the legislative leadership says "Don't worry, folks, we'll only tax you back to the bronze age." The rail extensions to New Beffa and Fall Rivah are so insane that even Patrick could only have put them into the proposal in order to negotiate them away.