Our Views: A new glitch for bus tax

When the Together Baton Rouge battalions of volunteers hit the streets for the April vote on a public transit tax, their advocacy helped turn the tide. The tax for the Capital Area Transit System passed in Baton Rouge and Baker, although a third proposal failed in Zachary.

Then, Together Baton Rouge’s coalition of congregations and civic organizations pledged to keep watch on CATS to make sure that the tax money is well spent.

However, despite the new and high-profile nature of CATS’ funding, Together Baton Rouge and other backers of transit have been dismayed by reports that the $30 million a year level of service that they pushed in the tax election will be significantly diminished.

Zachary will not contribute any taxes, and another chunk of money was cut when officials decided that the CATS tax is subject to the homestead exemption, unlike most municipal taxes. And now the city-parish has signaled that it will not renew its $3.6 million or so annual contribution from the general fund for CATS.

All told, the system is projecting a 2013 budget that is about $6.6 million below the level expected.

None of this was private information, but the impression of a $6 million-plus “oops” without explanation, or even a heads-up, to transit backers points to a management failure at CATS — even before it is able to ramp up services with the tax proceeds coming in January.

The impact on planned service: Six out of eight limited-stop and express routes promised during the tax election are apparently off the table.

Even so, public transit will become more practical for many more people to ride over the course of the year, as more buses and drivers are added to the existing bare-bones CATS services. By 2014, service should be significantly better than it is today.

But what CATS’ board members, managers and staff don’t appear to get is that this is a new world in terms of communication and accountability. The tax passed with 53 percent of the vote, and that tax won’t be renewed in 10 years if there is an atmosphere of communication and customer service reminiscent of the old Soviet Union.

Public transit in Baton Rouge may vault into the 20th Century with this first bus tax, but the public expectations are for a great deal more responsive and effective service than in the last century.

This funding gap isn’t good news, but bad feelings among public transit advocates — much less the tax’s opponents earlier this year — are not a good sign, either.

Comments

1) Comment by Mildred Citizen - 01/11/2012

This story began as CATS being short $2 million in its budget. Now, after getting $16 million more every year, they cannot provide proper service. The man running this organization needs to be given the opportunity to find work he is good at and new leadership installed post haste!

2) Comment by tradewinns - 31/10/2012

DMJ; routes that don't exist? so what you are saying is the existing routes (light ridership proven) are not needed and the "new" routes are where the ridership is? fine, abolish the existing routes and only provide service on the new ones. regardless, provide service where it is needed (and therefore profitable) and not wanted (convienent but not required).

3) Comment by phil - 30/10/2012

What gives? I think what gives is that CATS missed the cost estimate, their attorneys and/or others wrote a tax proposition that was not correct and it got caught, the entire system failed to catch the error, and the Attorney General's office finally caught the mistake and did the proper thing by releasing the legal opinion. I think the only attack going on here is a proper assessment of the situation by people who know what is really going on in BR.

4) Comment by phil - 30/10/2012

Being stupid - You are not so stupid as you suggest by your online name. Of course, we both know that some taxes are exempt under the homestead exemption. But this does not apply to FEES. Folks, I think your property rights are slowly going away thanks to some politicians who could care less about taxpayers. Wait and see how they also like the idea of setting up all of those new TIF areas around town.

5) Comment by DMJ - 30/10/2012

Whatchange, we already have near the highest sales taxes of anywhere in the country, whereas we have among the lowest property taxes and among the lowest tax burdens, in general.

6) Comment by Stephen - 30/10/2012

This editorial makes no sense. CATS is under attack from the Attorney General, some backward looking council members, and those who lost the election. It is not the CATS board that has explaining to do if things do not go as planned. What gives here? I really want to know.

7) Comment by Whatchange - 30/10/2012

say what you want, should of been a 1/2cent sales tax and this would all be over with.

8) Comment by Being_Stupid - 30/10/2012

Abolish CATS = Government Monopoly on transportation services. Deregulate the laws on transportation services. Lower license fees and bureaucracy to obtaining government permission to provide such essential services to the public. The Role of Government is to provide designated stopping areas only for transportation providers and the public, not to micromanage the entire transportation sector of our economy. The Private Market can provide more efficient, more timely, more affordable transportation at fair market prices if Government would just get out of the way. Government Micromanagement is the roadblock to transportation services in EBR Parish, not the solution.

9) Comment by Being_Stupid - 30/10/2012

The Attorney General likes to pick and choose which Non-Municipal Taxing Districts are homestead exempt and which are not.

10) Comment by Being_Stupid - 30/10/2012

Why aren't Crime Prevention Districts homestead exempt too?

11) Comment by phil - 30/10/2012

Unless this tax is repealed or overturned we the taxpayers are stuck with it for 10 years. Thank you TogetherBR for that. I can say for sure that this tax was fought by some people before, during and after the tax election, and many government agencies were contacted relative to the problem with the municipal tax and homestead exemption issues. Now we know that the Attorney General's office has released an opinion that this was NOT a municipal tax and the homestead exemption does apply. Say what you want to about the tax but now we all know this tax was NOT what people actually voted on and were sold on. I personally think the best for all would be to declare this tax null and void and start all over again. I personally am NOT against public transit. What I am against is a joke like this entire CATS tax issue has been.

12) Comment by DMJ - 30/10/2012

So...this wasn't really CATS' fault at all, according to this article. "Officials decided that the CATS tax is subject to the homestead exemption." And... "the city-parish has signaled that it will not renew its $3.6 million..." Sounds like CATS was intentionally hamstrung before it even got a chance to collect the new tax revenue. Hopefully, they'll still be able to provide quality service. And Tradewinns, you can't judge ridership for routes that don't yet exist. Think about it.

13) Comment by tradewinns - 30/10/2012

taxes can be repealed just the same way they are started, by a vote of the people. service is not and should not be the number one priority in determining if bus service is needed or even wanted in baton rouge. ridership should be the only criteria. number of buses and routes should be determined by ridership alone. it is a waste of resources to insure everyone has a bus availability at various times of the day. if the only viable ridership is at 7am and 5pm, then that is when buses are available, not every half hour because someone doesn't want to wake up early on their day off to go to the store.

14) Comment by 8point6 - 30/10/2012

hey, "our views". Remember this?: Our Views: Congratulations for new CATS http://theadvocate.com/news/opinion/2657434-123/our- views-congratulations-for-new But, hey, the tax passed. All the tax proponents were "happy". Let's have another property tax proposed to fill the shortfall. Yeah, that's the ticket. Don't forget to only allow property owners within the B.R. city limits to vote on it. That was sarcasm for my "progressive" friends.

15) Comment by [e-mail] - 30/10/2012

Soviet Union? Racism? Please come up with new appellations that doesn't make people want to barf; those two have become so banal as to be ludicros. The fact is that people who don't ride the buses don't want to pay through the nose so others can ride; once it gets past basic service the people are not too sympathetic.

16) Comment by Mr. T - 30/10/2012

If there is any Soviet Union style communication involved in this issue, it is coming from the Advocate, which opposed the CATS tax and is still trying to kill it. They are the ultimate 21st century racists!