(The Associated Press circulated the following article on December 7.)
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A legislative committee said yesterday that it’s important to find a stable source of funding to ensure passenger rail service continues across the state.
Members of the joint Interim Committee on Multimodal Transportation said train ridership suffers when people wonder every year whether state funding will be available to keep the trains running. But they also had few ideas for where to find dedicated money for Amtrak.
The committee discussed ideas yesterday and will prepare a final report to share with the General Assembly in the coming weeks.
Missouri has two daily trains between St. Louis and Kansas City, which make eight stops along the way. The state subsidizes Amtrak’s service by contributing $6.2 million each year.
Rep. Kevin Threlkeld, R-Washington, said lawmakers should consider asking local communities to help with the cost of maintaining Amtrak.
But others said local communities already are spending money, such as by improving train depots.
Committee co-chairman John Griesheimer, R-Washington, said lawmakers should at least ensure that any future transportation-related tax proposals dedicate a significant amount of the new revenue to railroads and other non-highway transportation.
Among the possibilities is increasing the fee people pay to register motor vehicles by a quarter and dedicating that extra money – estimated at $1 million a year – to railroad-crossing safety.
Another transportation idea, which the committee eventually rejected, was to eliminate a narrow tax break on jet fuel intended for the former St. Louis-based Trans World Airlines.
Griesheimer said there was no need for the tax break because TWA was bought by American Airlines, which is not based in St. Louis and has cut its flights to and from St. Louis. “American Airlines has basically abandoned us,” he said.
Missouri transportation officials estimated the change would have garnered another $2 million to $4 million for a fund that helps smaller airports make capital improvements such as extending runways.
But lawmakers from St. Louis and elsewhere disagreed. Some said the break could help St. Louis lure another airline there, while others said it would amount to a tax increase on American Airlines, which also has a maintenance base in Kansas City.