Board OKs April vote for tax to support CATS
The parish bus system’s board of commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to ask voters in April to approve a property tax for the beleaguered bus service.
The board is asking voters in Baton Rouge, Zachary and Baker to approve a 10-year, 10.6-mill tax on properties in those municipalities only. The proposed tax, to be placed on the April 21 ballot, is expected to generate $18.4 million a year for the Capital Area Transit System.
If voters approve the tax, CATS board member Jared Loftus said, the agency’s operating budget would grow to about $30 million a year, which is more than twice its current budget of about $12 million. CATS receives revenue from bus fares and from federal, state and local funds and grants.
Each of the three municipalities will vote separately on the 10-year, 10.6-mill tax proposal. That means CATS could continue its improvement plans if voters in Zachary and Baker defeat the tax proposal, Loftus said, while still providing limited service to those communities. However, if voters in Baton Rouge reject the proposal, the improvement plan would die, he said.
The proposed tax is expected to generate $16.7 million in Baton Rouge, $636,000 in Baker and $1.1 million in Zachary.
Because revenue from the property tax would come in slowly at first, the improvements would be made over a period of time. The goal is to reduce wait times at the bus stops from 75 minutes to 15 minutes, but that won’t happen until the first quarter of 2014, he said.
Loftus outlined the following schedule:
- February-June: Develop an implementation plan.
- July-September: Install GPS tracking in the existing fleet. Begin the process to purchase 10 to 15 new buses. New buses take 18 months to acquire.
- October-December: Replace signs at bus stops with signs that include more information, such as stop times and route maps, and build shelters around bus stops.
- January-March 2013: Expand bus pass sales locations.
- April-June 2013: Build more bus shelters.
- July-September 2013: Begin purchase orders for next wave of 15 to 20 new buses.
- October-December: Provide information to the public about the new routes.
- January-March 2014: Implement expanded routes.
The announcement of the tax election was accompanied by an endorsement from Mayor-President Kip Holden.
“The citizens of this parish, they have suffered long enough,” Holden said. “They have watched us put their lives in jeopardy.”
Holden said a stronger, more reliable public transportation system is important to the parish’s growth and makes Baton Rouge a more attractive area for business.
“Today we have a decision to make: Do we stay where we are, or do we grow up?” Holden said. “Are we a city that is content or are we a city that is ready to take on the world?”
With the tax revenues, CATS would transform its route map into a grid system, which does not require all routes to be funneled back to the Florida Boulevard terminal as is currently the case.
The new map would be increased from 19 to 37 routes, and include areas officials say are in high demand that are not currently served, such as O’Neal Lane, Coursey Boulevard, Essen Lane and Siegen Lane.
CATS would also create five express routes: from Southern University to downtown, from the Metro Airport to downtown, from O’Neal Lane to downtown, from the Mall of Louisiana to downtown, and from the Highland Road/Interstate 110 intersection to downtown.
CATS would also offer three limited stop routes: from Baker/Zachary, through Southern University to the CATS terminal; from Florida Boulevard to downtown; and from LSU to downtown.
Loftus said the proposed new funding would lay the foundation for Bus Rapid Transit, a system in which buses get their own right-of-way lanes on certain roads.
In October 2010, voters rejected a proposal by CATS for a 3.5-mill property tax.
Last year, CATS faced closure because of a $1.4 million budget shortfall due to the sunsetting of a combination of federal grants and reduced state allocations. CATS plugged that deficit with a private donation and some federal grants.
This year, CATS faces a $2.1 million budget deficit that threatens to shutter its operations in July.