(The following article was posted on the Philadelphia Daily News website on June 27.)
PHILADELPHIA — A former Amtrak official examining SEPTA’s books for Gov. Rendell is preparing a report saying that the state isn’t paying its fair share to subsidize the agency, according to two sources familiar with mass-transit funding.
Arlene Friner, Amtrak’s former chief financial officer, examined SEPTA’s funding last month but has not finished studying how the agency can trim spending.
SEPTA’s board voted 13-1 yesterday to approve a $875 million budget for the fiscal year that starts Tuesday.
Jettie Newkirk, a city representative on the board, cast the only no vote after objecting to plans to replace five trackless trolley routes in South and Northeast Philadelphia with buses.
The budget includes a $41 million hole that SEPTA wants the state to fill. The state’s budget deadline is Monday, but negotiations in Harrisburg are expected to stretch at least until Thursday.
SEPTA Chairman Pat Deon said the agency’s lobbyists have seen “real good signs” in the Capitol that legislators want to help with its financial troubles.
“In no way does that mean we’re out of the woods yet,” he said.
Every SEPTA announcement about its budget includes the threat of service cuts and increased fares if the state does not come through with more money.
Among the threatened service cuts SEPTA postponed until September are the C Bus on Broad Street and four regional rail lines – the R1 Airport, the R2 Warminster, the R6 Cynwyd and the R8 Chestnut Hill West.
State Rep. Dwight Evans, who in the past has not been shy about criticizing SEPTA, yesterday said the state needed to find more money for mass transit.
“It’s not an issue just with SEPTA,” said Evans, D-Philadelphia. “It’s an issue across the state.”
Among the state funding options now being considered:
o Evans on Monday will propose raising the state fee for annual automobile inspections from $2 to $5 and the fee from $1 to $4 on vehicles inspected twice a year. Evans says that would raise $42 million for mass transit in the state. About $29 million of that would go to SEPTA.
o Legislators are considering removing a cap on the amount of the 6 percent state sales tax that is routed to mass transit. If removed, the annual cap of $75 million could increase to $93 million. SEPTA’s share would increase from $42 million a year to $55 million.
o State Sen. Tina Tartaglione has proposed doubling the $1 tax on new tires and $2 per day tax on rental cars. That pot of about $19 million a year in dedicated mass-transit funding would double to about $38 million.
o State Rep. Don Walko of Pittsburgh has proposed dropping the 58-year-old ban in the state Constitution on using gas-tax money on mass transit. Legislators are negotiating a 5-to-8-cent raise in that 26-cent per-gallon tax. That would bring in $315 million to $505 million more to build and repair state roads.
o Rendell has said he would like to restore the $11 million he slashed from SEPTA’s budget in March. If that happened, SEPTA would receive $4 million more from the city and surrounding counties in matching subsidies.