Council lukewarm on BART Council lukewarm on BART (March 04, 2005)

VTA gauging support for new sales tax

By Jon Wiener

Representatives of the county's transit agency came to Mountain View on Tuesday, looking for support for a new sales-tax increase from 8.25 to 8.75 percent to fund the BART extension to San Jose. They didn't get it.

The Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) staff members presented a plan to build and pay for the BART extension to the Mountain View City Council. The first in a round of BART discussions by the individual cities in the county, the meeting between VTA staff and the council was part government oversight, part test balloon for a potential sales-tax measure on the November 2006 ballot.

The embattled agency is counting on the 0.5 percent sales-tax increase to avoid more service cuts and pay for projects promised under Measure A in 2000. The proposal, a quarter of which would go to cities to pay for street repairs, would need a two-thirds majority of votes to pass.

Though they did not take a formal position on the $4.2 billion BART project, council members expressed serious reservations about asking voters to approve a tax increase to pay for projects they thought they had already funded.

"I voted for Measure A in spite of BART, not because of BART. And I don't think I'm alone," said Council member Laura Macias.

Measure A contained several projects slated for Mountain View, including underpasses of the Caltrain tracks on busy streets, increased bus service and support for the Dumbarton rail corridor.

However, since 2000, when voters approved Measure A by a more than 70 percent margin, sales-tax revenues have fallen more than $50 million, or about 30 percent, according to VTA chief development officer Carolyn Gonot.

Council member Greg Perry said he had grave doubts about VTA's assumptions regarding the cost of the BART project, future ridership numbers and potential sources of federal and state funding.

"Supposing that the critics are right and some of these assumptions don't work out, what does that mean for Mountain View projects?" Perry asked. "I think it means we end up losing out on the things that are important to us."

Perry's criticism of the agency and opposition to the project landed him in political hot water earlier this year. The council did not select him in a vice-mayor election he was expected to win in January. Weeks later, the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group tried to get Perry kicked off a VTA advisory board.
'BART, now, maybe'

Mayor Matt Neely and Macias joined Perry in expressing opposition to the project. Council members Matt Pear, Tom Means and Nick Galiotto did not take a position but said they did not think VTA had made a convincing case to support a new tax.

Only Mike Kasperzak, the sole member who was on the council when it took a position of support of Measure A, spoke in favor of BART. He phrased the choice as "BART, now, maybe, or BART never." But he also criticized the VTA for failing to come up with a plan that did not depend on a new sales tax and billions of dollars in questionable federal and state funding.

VTA staff will be taking its expenditure plan, known as VTP 2030, to the other cities in Santa Clara County between now and an April 22 VTA board workshop. Gonot said that input from the cities will be crucial in deciding whether VTA has enough support to place the new sales-tax measure on the ballot.

Mountain View is represented on the VTA board as part of a group of North County cities. Los Altos Mayor David Casas and Sunnyvale Mayor Dean Chu have both been critical of the agency's focus on BART.

Santa Clara County's 8.25 percent sales tax rate is among the highest in California. State law imposes a limit of 8.75 percent.

E-mail Jon Wiener at jwiener@mv-voice.com

E-mail a friend a link to this story.