County wastes transit tax money by not listening to advice

To taxpayers’ costly detriment, Miami-Dade last week totally ignored the trust that voters created to safeguard the use of the tax that we imposed on ourselves to build mass transit.

The Citizens’ Independent Transportation Trust had unanimously opposed spending on a $268 million project because the county intended to take every penny out of scarce transit tax funds rather than first seek state and federal matching money that is standard for major transit.

Commissioners ignored that stance and voted unanimously to spend only the tax money, overriding the trust’s vote without a word, though notes to commissioners outlined the trust’s firm position against the contract without matching funds.

At stake was a $245 million contract to help build a South Dade Transit Operations Center. The trust four years ago approved using some of our half-penny transit tax receipts for the project, which the county had priced at $56 million, not $268 million. A trust OK was conditioned on matching state and federal funds, which county transit officials admit they never even tried to get, though federal funds to build transit are now flowing freely.

The trust also was upset that one reason the contract ballooned by $212 million was that the county planned to move other work not legally eligible for transit tax spending into the center. Why, asked trust Chairman Robert Wolfarth, should the trust OK money it safeguards to be the only financial resource if some uses exceed the transit tax’s mandate?

Another trust concern was that the county had ignored dozens of ways a consultant had recommended to cut the project’s cost. The county said it was in too much hurry to think about saving the money.

Commissioners must have been fully aware of the trust’s position. Their staff outlined it in notes to each of them, and Miami Today a week earlier cataloged in detail these and other trust dislikes about the vote. Yet commissioners didn’t even discuss the spending – they just rubber-stamped an OK.

What the commission did in ignoring the trust was legal but wasteful. 

It showed no interest at all in dealing with the trust’s principal issue, which is that trust monies seed major projects, particularly the Smart Program to add six more legs of mass transit – none of which has been built and most of which have not yet been funded. 

Without that transit tax money, the county can’t get vital federal and state grants to build transit. The more of that money the county wastes – in this case by not seeking matching aid – the less transit the county will get.

As we’ve detailed often, since taxpayers created the transit tax in 2002 the county has repeatedly raided it for other uses, including in early years using transit taxes to run old transit rather than build new as they shifted operating money away from transportation to other county uses.

Last week’s vote was a cousin of earlier transgressions. Some transit taxes will construct a project that other county operations will share. 

Is it any wonder that in more than two decades of taxing ourselves to add transit we have managed to build only a 2.4-mile Metrorail extension to the airport – period?

We could understand the county’s vote had it even once in four years sought state or federal matching funds as the trust has stipulated throughout the life of this South Dade project. But the county administration said it never lifted a finger to get outside help.

Seeking state and federal aid and failing is one thing; not trying and just tapping the trust piggybank for everything is very hard to justify. The county didn’t try – it just ignored the trust and steamrolled through the project entirely on local taxpayers’ backs.

The result is $100 million to $200 million less available to seed the next vital rapid transit project that is not going to get built.

Mayor Daniella Levine Cava last week took off the table $2.5 billion in bond borrowing to do other projects with the promise that she would come back after we re-elect her with a much bigger plan to include transportation. If the county is going to kiss goodbye hundreds of millions needlessly now, why would sensible voters trust a change if we tax ourselves more?

Actions speak much louder than words. We look to see the county waste a lot less of the money it has now, starting with at least evaluating what the voter-created trust that protects our taxes has to say. It’s legal to overrule the trust; it’s wasteful and disrespectful not to listen first.