CATS expected to approve April tax vote
The parish bus system’s board of commissioners is expected to move forward with a tax election in April, rather than waiting until the fall as previously planned, board members said Tuesday.
The Capital Area Transit System, which has been plagued by budget shortfalls in recent years, could ask voters to approve a 10-year, 10.6-mill property tax to improve and expand the bus service.
The CATS board will meet at 11:15 a.m. Wednesday at a special meeting in the Shaw Center to approve the tax election.
Board member Jared Loftus said he expects his colleagues to approve the ballot item because for months they have been discussing the possibility of an April election.
“This isn’t just about fixing a broken-down bus system,” Loftus said. “It’s about the future of transportation in Baton Rouge.”
The property tax would apply only to property owners in the city limits of Baton Rouge, Baker and Zachary. Only those residents would vote on the tax proposal.
The proposed tax is expected to generate more than $18 million a year if voters in all three cities approve the tax: $16.6 million in Baton Rouge, $1.1 million in Zachary and $636,000 in Baker.
Loftus said if voters in Baker or Zachary reject the tax, CATS is not obligated to serve those cities; however, the bus service would likely provide limited access to the areas.
For an average home valued at $157,000, the tax would cost the property owner about $14 a month in Baton Rouge, $10 a month in Baker and $16 dollars a month in Zachary, Loftus said.
“If you look at other millage rates for the library, for BREC and for fire districts, it’s lower than the other dedicated revenues out there,” Loftus said.
The funding would enable CATS to implement the recommendations made last year by the Blue Ribbon Commission. Among the recommendations by the commissioners, appointed by the mayor-president, are more buses and more routes, and ultimately reducing wait times from 75 minutes to 15 to 20 minutes.
The chief recommendation the Blue Ribbon Commission made in the fall to Mayor-President Kip Holden and the Metro Council requires going to the state Legislature to create a special taxing district to allow CATS to ask voters to approve a sales tax.
The commission recommended seeking a quarter-cent sales tax and a 4-mill property tax in a fall election.
Without the legislative changes, CATS can call only for a property tax, not a sales tax.
Loftus said several members of the CATS board are concerned about waiting until November to ask for a tax. He said it became apparent it is necessary to move forward with just a property tax proposal in the spring election to address CATS’ immediate funding shortfalls.
CATS is experiencing a budget shortfall of $2.1 million that threatens to shutter its operations in July. Last year, CATS had a $1.4 million budget shortfall, but the agency was saved midyear by a private donation and some federal grants.
“April makes the most sense as far as moving forward right now,” Loftus said. “We’ve made a very large effort to reach out to many groups of people and get their input and see if there is support. And because the support is there, we feel like this can be successful this time around.”
In October 2010, voters rejected a 3.5-mill property tax for CATS, 53 to 47 percent.
If the April tax passes, CATS would not begin to collect funds until next year.
Board President Thomas Govan said if CATS secures a dedicated source of revenue, the agency could apply to the state bond commission for a tax anticipation note, which would act as a bridge loan to get CATS through the end of the year.
If the tax is passed, Loftus said, CATS could begin implementing some of its less expensive improvements, such as adding shelters and more-informative signs to the bus stops.
It would take at least a year for CATS to implement dramatic changes like increasing service from 19 to 37 routes and increasing the number of buses on the roads during peak hours from 32 to 57, he said.
CATS officials still intend to ask the Legislature in the summer for autonomy from the Metro Council, which was another recommendation from the Blue Ribbon Commission.
Loftus said the Metro Council would still appoint CATS board members, but it wouldn’t have “veto power over route and fare changes as they’ve had in the past.”
Baton Rouge Area Chamber president Adam Knapp said he supports the decision to move forward with the April election.
BRAC was involved with the Blue Ribbon Commission last year and assisted in assembling a new civic group in recent weeks to push forward the commission’s recommendations.
“Long-term funding is necessary to support a system with reliability and predictability,” Knapp said.
He noted that CATS is following through with almost all of the commission’s recommendations, but acknowledged that the immediate funding problems make it necessary to move up the election.
Board member Isaiah Marshall said a year of conversations about transportation, and working with different organizations, has better positioned CATS for a tax election than it was in 2010, when it had virtually no organized support.
“We’ll see more third-party groups this time that will come out and support it,” Marshall said. “That gives us a sense of confidence, but as it is with any election, you never know. It’s in the hands of the people as to how it turns out.”