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Letter to Governor Regarding Jan. 10 Meeting on
Transportation Funding
The Honorable Edward
G. Rendell
Governor
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
225 Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120
Governor Rendell,
Thank you for the invitation
to attend a meeting at the Governor’s Mansion on Monday, January 10, at 7 p.m.
We anticipate that the purpose of this meeting is to unveil your transportation
funding plan for Pennsylvania and we look forward to seeing your detailed
proposal.
As we move to address mass
transit in particular, the recent actions taken to address the severe budget
problems in the City of Pittsburgh offer some lessons on necessary approaches.
As with the City of
Pittsburgh, the problems with mass transit are not purely financial. There are
management problems contributing to the problem. For example, recent reports on
PAT show substantial increases in employment at the same time that ridership is
tumbling. Thus, a package that will effectively address the crisis cannot be
limited just to pumping in more money. There should be operational changes
linked to any increased funding.
The other point is that the
Pittsburgh legislation featured a component -- the emergency and municipal
services tax -- that was an option made available statewide, because there were
needs in communities apart from Pittsburgh. There are extensive transportation
needs apart from mass transit, and the Administration needs to recommend and
work for a statewide solution. The last major change in mass transit funding
was coupled with substantial help for highways and bridges, during the Casey
Administration. A similar linkage was seen during the Ridge Administration.
In order for the people of
Pennsylvania to have confidence that we are providing and efficient and well-run
mass transit system, final audits of both SEPTA and PAT must be completed.
These audits should be thorough and follow recognized auditing principles, and
they should include the size and costs associated with the management staff of
both transit systems.
When complete information is
in hand, we believe it’s fair to analyze the ridership of the two largest mass
transit agencies, SEPTA and PAT, and then decide whether or not the City of
Philadelphia and the City of Pittsburgh are contributing their fair share to
those systems.
In addition, ridership
across the state should be analyzed to ensure the cost-effectiveness of our
overall public transportation system. We also need to analyze the likely need
to modify the current funding formula so that our smaller transit systems are
treated fairly.
We also should analyze the
amount of federal money given to Pennsylvania for road projects over the past
five years and have a working estimate of how much will be available for each of
the upcoming five years.
Finally, we believe that
Pennsylvania’s transportation funding issues should be addressed in the regular
session of the General Assembly, which will enable the most productive
legislative response to the situation. As you may be aware, apart from
responding to weather-related emergencies, special session calls have been
unproductive with the single exception of Governor Tom Ridge’s 1995 special
session on crime.
We stand ready to work with
you to address Pennsylvania’s transportation needs. It is encouraging to us
that you now appear willing to discuss our state’s transportation system
seriously. We very much want Monday’s discussion to lay the groundwork for a
productive solution to this issue.
Very truly yours,
Senator Robert C. Jubelirer
President Pro Tempore
Senator David J. Brightbill
Majority Leader
Senator Robert J. Thompson
Chairman, Appropriations
Committee
Senator Roger A. Madigan
Chairman, Transportation
Committee
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