Good News For The RTA
April 14, 2009 12:02 PM
Last week's election results were good news for the Regional Transit Authority. County Executive Kathleen Falk's opponent Nancy Mistele made the RTA one of the two major issues she ran on. Mistele attempted to make the election a referendum in part on the RTA.
Well, the County Exec got 59% countywide and 62% in the area that would actually be in the RTA. The language in the state budget authorizing an RTA would limit it to the area in the center of the county covered by the Metropolitan Planning Organization.
Kathleen and I have promised that we will not allow the sales tax associated with the RTA to go into effect until it is approved in a referendum. If last week's vote for county executive is any indication, it appears that the RTA has a good chance of passage.
Nothing's for certain, of course. We don't expect a referendum to be held for at least another 18 months and a new tax is never popular. But as we think about making our local economy stronger, transportation has to be at the center of it. And the RTA will give us the resources to create a set of modern transportation options.
