Alachua County is currently facing a massive shortfall in funding for road repairs and other transportation spending. According to The Gainesville Sun, the county faces a $550 million backlog of road repairs, transit improvements and other transportation projects.
The County Commission approved the placement of a measure on the ballot to address Alachua County’s lack of adequate transportation funding. The proposal, Moving Alachua County Forward, would institute an eight-year, 1-cent increase to the sales tax. The measure would raise about $30 million per year for a total of about $250 million over the eight years.
Unlike 2012’s Fix Our Roads initiative, which was rejected by Alachua County voters, the new proposal addresses other transportation concerns beyond road repairs. About 40 percent of the funding would go toward transit, and another 5 percent would be spent on improvements for bike riders and pedestrians. This funding distribution appropriately reflects the diversity of Alachua County’s transportation environment and the need for across-the-board improvements.
There are some legitimate concerns about whether the proposed sales tax is overly regressive and unfair to Gainesville’s low-income residents. However, the surtax will not apply to many of these individuals’ most basic purchases, such as groceries. In addition, projections indicate that a large portion of the total revenue collected from the surtax — as much as 30 percent — will be paid by visitors to Gainesville and Alachua County, rather than local residents.
Gainesville’s low-income residents would also strongly benefit from the approval of Moving Alachua County Forward. Part of the proposal includes a plan to extend bus service to ease the workday commutes of Alachua’s low-income workers.
The creation of an advisory board to oversee the new transportation projects is another important component of the proposal. The advisory board, which will include representation of Gainesville, Alachua County and the outlying municipalities, will help ensure the funds are spent in a responsible manner and in ways that truly serve the best interests of Alachua voters.
Although the initiative is a good first step toward fixing Alachua’s transportation funding gap, it is not enough. Raising the sales tax is more politically expedient than raising property taxes. However, the $250 million the new proposal would raise is not nearly sufficient to address all of the improvements that must be made to Alachua’s transportation infrastructure. A property tax increase will undoubtedly be a tough sell politically, but it is likely the only way to bring the county’s transportation budget up to the necessary level.
The longer Alachua County voters wait to approve new sources of transportation funding, the more the costs of improving the county’s infrastructure will grow. The new proposal is not perfect, but it is good enough to deserve public support. The Alligator encourages a vote of Yes on the Moving Alachua County Forward proposal.
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 11/1/2014]
