Link to article here.
Voters may get say on toll roads
By Pat Driscoll
Express-News
December 20, 2008
Talks are gaining steam to abolish San Antonio's fledging toll-road
agency and give voters a long-demanded say-so on toll roads. Shuttering
the five-year-old Alamo Regional Mobility Authority, which still is
several years away from opening a toll road, would be a byproduct of a
still-sketchy idea to merge the agency and VIA Metropolitan Transit
into the existing Advanced Transportation District. Voters
approved the ATD and its quarter-cent sales tax in 2004 to expand bus
service, upgrade city streets and build highway lanes. The district,
which follows the city's boundary, also can construct and operate toll
roads and light rail. Amid the bureaucratic wrangling lies a
catch. Promises made during the ATD referendum forbid spending on tolls
or rail without additional public votes. “That was a valid pledge,” insists attorney Tim Tuggey, a former VIA and ATD chairman now advising the toll agency. Giving
the public a vote on toll roads is the right thing to do anyway, say a
bevy of toll supporters now advocating the consolidation of the
agencies. “After all these years, I've just come to the point,
if they want it, fine, if they don't, fine,” County Judge Nelson Wolff
said. “I believe people ought to get what they ask for.” Toll critics aren't sure whether to smile or frown. The
result could be ugly if funding isn't tied to specific projects and
limited to a time frame, said Terri Hall of Texans Uniting for Reform
and Freedom. “Yes, we want the public vote,” she said. “But I
don't want a public vote to be a sweetener to a really bad deal before
opening the door to a big Pandora's box.” Sales tax revenues
traditionally used for transit could end up subsidizing toll roads,
Hall said. Or tollway profits could shift to another side of town to
help pay for a light-rail line. Tuggey, who's writing possible
legislation to create the superagency, maintains voters would have to
sign off on mixing different piles of money. “This is not an end run to get toll roads,” he said. The
merger idea bubbled into the public spotlight this week after
germinating a month ago in behind-the-scene talks among members of a
city-county task force. The group is drawing up regional transportation
goals. Piecemeal authority of too many agencies has hobbled
planning and financing the city's roads and transit, officials argue.
Also, speaking with one voice could help tap transportation funds that
soon could flow more freely from Washington.
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