It's Hard to Stop a Train!

The Rail Runner was sold to New Mexicans on the promises of federal support and an original price tag of $300 MILLION (Subscription) for the whole enchilada. Not surprisingly, cost over-runs have put us in the $400 MILLIO plus range and we're not finished with the Santa Fe extension yet. Not to mention that there's been absolutely no federal money made available for the project.

Wednesday, the Mid-Region Council of Governments (MRCOG) voted 14-2 to put a $26 MILLION a year tax increase on the table to pay for the operation of the system (Journal - Subscription).

(Sidebar)
We've often been critical of MRCOG representatives and City Councilors Sally Mayer and Don Harris. Wednesday, they got it right by voting against the tax increase. We give credit where credit is due and both councilors acted in the best interests of not only their constituents but in the best interests of all of us living under the influence of MRCOG.
(End Sidebar)

The Bernalillo County Commission isn't wasting any time getting the wheels rolling on the Rail Runner tax increase. They're taking the first step towards putting the $26 MILLION yearly tax increase on the ballot tomorrow - just two days after the MRCOG vote. At the unusual hour of 11:00 am, the commissioners will vote on whether or not to publish the required legal notice indicating that they will debate (rubber stamp) the proposed MRCOG Rail Runner tax increase and whether or not it will be placed on the November ballot.

The legal notice is required by law. What's unusual is the time chosen to vote on notice placement. It's damn odd that the commission is meeting at 11:00 am in the first place. The only time the commissioners meet during the day is to perform time-sensitive functions like the Board of Canvass. The rest of the time they convene after work at 4:30 or 5:00pm.

Look... The commission tends to fly under the radar most of the time anyway, but we'd be willing to bet that even Geraldine Amato will have a hard time making the meeting. Seems to us that the commissioners really don't want to have any shall we say... interruptions (or debate) over the issue. Tomorrow's meeting is the first opportunity for opponents of the tax to prevent its inclusion on the November ballot - keeping it low profile allows commissioners some cover and protects them from criticism.

Meanwhile over at the city, Marty's busy trying to get his trolley back on track again. It's trains coming from every direction and no matter how many times they get derailed or how many times we're reassured that tax increases are "off the table forever" (KOB.com) the trains just keep coming. (Don't even get us started about the undersized, unwanted, over priced downtown arena.) It just goes to show you that it's hard to stop a train!

Just What We Need

Take a moment and think about all of the governmental and quasi-governmental agencies that have the authority to directly take money from your pocket book. Let's see... right here in Albuquerque there's the state, county and the city. Then add APS, MRGCD, the Water Authority, and the Public Regulatory Commission. Those are just some of the more obvious ones.

Now if Albuquerque Representative Dan Silva gets his way we'll get to add the Rail Runner Transit District to the list. The district will have the authority to impose a gross receipts tax on the citizens of Belen, Los Lunas, Albuquerque, Bernalillo, Placitas, and Santa Fe in order to pay the $20 MILLION a year operating cost of the commuter train.

Silva told his House colleagues that if voters don't pass the tax, the state of New Mexico would have to look elsewhere— possibly to the state's road fund or general fund— to pay for the train's operations.

-ABQ Journal (Subscription)

There are a couple of things here that bear considering. The first is that the state's road fund has already been raided to help pay for the Rail Runner. In fact, the state is close to $500 MILLION in the hole when it comes to road maintenance and repair.

Some estimates are that New Mexico is already half a billion dollars short of money for dozens of highway construction projects around the state, although state Transportation Secretary Rhonda Faught said the exact figure is unknown.

-ABQ Journal (Subscription)

The latest estimate for the Bernalillo-Santa Fe line is $259 million. An estimate published earlier this summer put the cost at $250 million.

The preliminary costs for the Rail Runner's new crossings on the Belen to Bernalillo portion of the train's route represent an additional expense to a project already estimated to cost more than $400 million.

-ABQ Journal (Subscription)

When you think about it it's perfectly clear, the Rail Runner has cost at least $400 MILLION (probably closer to $500 MILLION) so far and now we've got close to a $500 MILLION shortfall in our transportation budget. A recent budget panel is recommending raising the state's gas tax which currently stands at 17 cents a gallon by 6% to pay for the roads whose funding went to the Rail Runner instead. (ABQ Journal - Subscription).

The second consideration is that we were never asked whether or not we wanted this Billion Dollar Boondoggle. According to the Journal it costs taxpayers $8 MILLION a year to run the State Employee / Tourist Transit Train that's in operation from Belen to Bernalillo. That number is expected to jump to $20 MILLION a year when the $259 MILLION (for now) Santa Fe extension is complete.

Silva would like to pay for this revenue sinkhole by creating a transit district with the authority to tax and to make matters worse, the power of eminent domain. They'll be empowered take both your money and your property to run a rail road that we didn't vote for, by a quasi-governmental board that we didn't approve, for state employees that will be forced to use the system (ABQ Journal - Subscription). If that weren't enough, we'll also get to pay a higher price at the pump to pay for the road work that should have been paid for by our current gas tax but went into the Rail Runner instead.

That's just what we need... Another government bully with the authority to steal our money and a track record of raiding funds that were already allocated for other uses.