DALLAS - The Phoenix City Council will ask voters to approve a $33 billion transportation plan through 2050 that would rely on a 0.72-cent sales tax.
Plans to place the measure on an August ballot won council approval on a 6-3 vote March 3. Among the three opponents was council member Sal Diciccio, who said light rail is too expensive.
The proposal would raise the 0.4-cent transit tax approved by voters in 2000 to 0.72 cents. That would mean a tax of 72 cents on a $100 purchase.
The council's Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee last month approved a three-tenths of one percent increase of the city's sales tax - bringing the current 0.40 percent dedicated transit tax approved by voters in 2000 to 0.72 percent (72 cents per $100). Unlike Transit 2020, though, this plan would include street improvements in addition to transit.
With the sales tax approved in 2000, Phoenix launched its section of the Valley Metro Light Rail line in December 2008.
That tax is set to expire in 2020, but its long-term goals have been hampered by the revenue declines of two recessions, Stanton said. The tax has generated about $1 billion less than anticipated.
Funding for street transportation projects, infrastructure and maintenance also has dropped because of cuts to longstanding revenue sources, such as the Arizona Highway User Revenue Fund.
Last year, in his State of the City address, Stanton called for growing the city's popular and economically valuable public transit system by tripling Phoenix's light rail miles over the next 30 years and significantly growing bus service.
A 34-member citizens committee was charged with completing a comprehensive review of public transit and street transportation needs citywide, and gathering residents' comments about improvements they wanted to see. Mary Peters, who served as U.S. secretary of transportation under President George W. Bush, and as director of the Arizona Department of Transportation, led the effort.
The committee met 11 times to analyze transportation needs throughout the city.
Respondents to an online survey were about evenly split between being willing to pay about $9 per month or $14 per month, indicating a desire for a funding level somewhere between those figures, the committee said.
In addition to expanding public transit, the panel recommended significant investments in the city's street and storm water infrastructure needs.
Unlike some metro areas in other states, Phoenix and its suburbs operate independently in raising revenue for Valley Metro Light Rail projects that pass through their boundaries. The current 20-mile line serves Phoenix, Mesa and Tempe.
Phoenix carries general obligation bond ratings of Aa1 from Moody's Investors Service and AA-plus from Standard & Poor's. Outlooks are stable. The city has about $1.5 billion of GO debt outstanding.
