Wednesday, February 18, 2009

What the Bill?!?!

After reading this article under the Austin American Statesman, it leaves me a bit skimpy about the idea of having our urban voters decide to raise gas prices and fees. State Senator John Carona, the Senate's transportation committee chief, proposed Bill 855, which basically allows country commissioners courts to call elections and have the people within the county to decide if they would like to raise any of the 6 proposed taxes/fees:

- Gas tax, capped at 10 cents a gallon .

- "Mobility improvement fee," capped at $60 , essentially an increase in the annual vehicle registration fee.

- "Parking regulation and management fee" of up to $1 per hour for use of a parking space.

- Annual motor vehicle emissions fee, based on the amount of pollutants emitted by a vehicle, of up to $15.

- Added driver's license renewal fee (once every six years) equal to the renewal fees in current law for various types of licenses.

-"New resident impact fee" of up to $250 , levied on vehicles previous registered in another state.

They would like to implement this bill to help fund road and rail projects. The problem I see within this bill is the sacrifice the voters and residents will have to endure before they reach their financial goals. This would not be popular among the low-level economic status families, especially with our free-falling markets. It would be nice to take a quick and simple rail from Round Rock to ACC, but they'll be complete when I'm gone. It would also be convenient for others who have to travel over 30 minutes to work, or people who would like something faster and simpler.

On the other hand, people may just ignore this bill because we have already put many funds into transportation. We have just implemented toll roads, roads all over are getting re-paved, or bridges are having a U-turn lane implemented. I feel as if we should shift our focus elsewhere and make some progress.

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