South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

Failure to fund Tri-Rail hurts road and transit projects

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By William E. Gibson

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

June 5, 2009

WASHINGTON

Florida has hurt its chances of luring additional federal dollars to help unclog roads and expand train service because the state has failed to put up enough money to keep Tri-Rail running, members of Congress warned this week.

Florida's shortfall not only puts the commuter-rail service at risk, but it weakens the state's negotiating power in Congress to boost its share of federal highway and transit money.

"I can tell you the rest of the country will clean our clock if we continue to stumble. It's just unconscionable," Rep. John Mica of Winter Park, the ranking Republican on the House transportation committee, told fellow Florida members.

"Increasing Florida's share is going to be even more difficult this time," he said.

Florida's attempt to get a bigger piece of the federal pie is intensifying now that Congress is preparing to renew a transportation bill that determines how gas-tax money will be divided among states for the next 10 years.

All states face a potential squeeze because the federal transportation trust fund is expected to run short by August. Congress must pour more general-purpose tax money into the fund or raise the gas tax.

Florida motorists pay their full share of federal gas taxes, 18.4 cents per gallon. But for every dollar contributed, the state gets back only about 87 cents for highways and 73 cents for buses and trains, according to state officials.

This is the money that pays for such things as widening Interstate 95 and I-75 and adding a new interchange in Boca Raton.

Florida members of Congress said it's hard to make the case for getting a bigger share when the state may be forced to return millions.

Federal officials have threatened to force Tri-Rail to return $256 million if it fails to meet an obligation to provide full service.

Declining contributions from the state and South Florida counties make service cutbacks almost inevitable. The Legislature's rejection of a $2 surcharge on rental cars to pay for rail systems leaves Tri-Rail without enough money to keep full service beyond October.

South Florida riders are paying the consequences in the form of a 25-percent increase in Tri-Rail fares. The hike comes just as thousands of commuters are leaving their cars and jumping on trains to avoid fuel costs.

"The higher fares you charge, the less people are going to use it," said Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton. "Now that gas prices are going up again, this has a real impact on people in Florida."

Florida is pushing to increase its share of federal highway funds to 95 cents for every dollar it contributes in gas taxes.

But some other states get back far more than they contribute.

The biggest shares tend to go to vast rural states with small populations. Florida officials have long argued that growing Sunbelt states should get more to help absorb dense traffic.

Using the latest available numbers, a 95 percent return on the state's gas taxes would have meant an additional $270 million for Florida in 2007, according to David Lee, director of policy planning at the state Department of Transportation.

A 95-percent return since the trust fund began in 1956 would have brought an extra $4.5 billion to the state, Lee said.

That additional spending would have made traveling through Florida a lot easier, said Doug Callaway, president of Floridians for Better Transportation, an advocacy group in Tallahassee.

"If we had been getting our fair share for the last 20 years, we would have had additional lanes to ease capacity, and you probably would also not need so many toll lanes," Callaway said. "People would have a better quality of life with less stress and fewer tolls."

The quest for future spending is unrelated to the $1.3 billion of transportation funds the state was allotted from the Economic Recovery Act, a one-shot deal designed to create jobs and help meet transportation needs. The state also is competing for a piece of the $8 billion provided for high-speed rail projects. U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, is rounding up support from other "donor states" -- those that get back less than they pay in taxes -- to change the way the money is divided.

"We're talking about hundreds of millions of additional dollars that can go to Florida," Diaz-Balart said. "You are looking at potentially speeding up projects way down the road. I don't mean to say we would have clear highways. But we can make a substantial difference in keeping up with our growth and improving our capacity.

"It could be a huge impact."

William E. Gibson can be reached at wgibson@sunsentinel.com or 202-824-8256.

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