The Massachusetts transportation finance bill, which includes a 3-cent-per-gallon gas tax increase and ties the tax to the rate of inflation, recently garnered enough signatures to make the inflationary raise a ballot question next year. On Beacon Hill, though, State Representative Denise Provost (D-Somerville), though, has submitted legislation to be viewed next week that could put the gas tax to good use: bailing out the drowning MBTA.
Provost’s measure will be considered by the Joint Committee on Transportation on December 10. The legislation calls for a solid 32 percent of all gas tax revenue be put towards pulling the MBTA out of debt, perhaps even more of a chore than initially thought when the bill was filed back in January, now that the MBTA will begin to stay open later on the weekends and is arbitrating a new contract with union officials.
Of the 32 percent that would potentially be put towards the MBTA, 18 percent would be designated towards any debt incurred due to the Big Dig – the Central Artery/Tunnel project – until it’s paid in full. The other 14 percent would be assigned to the MBTA’s capital maintenance program or, at the MBTA’s discretion, “to dedicate a portion of these funds on an annual basis by priority to specific MBTA expenditures eligible to receive Federal matching funds.”
As for the remaining 68 percent of gas tax revenue, if Provost has her way a cool 25 percent will be allocated towards the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s Chapter 90 program, which allows for municipalities to be reimbursed for specific expenditures, and 25 percent for the 15 regional transit authorities by way of “a formula to be determined by the Massachusetts department of transportation, the commonwealth metropolitan planning organizations, and the Massachusetts association of regional transit authorities.”
The remaining 18 percent would be divided among the highway division for essentially all types of road repairs though not for new construction.
Whether this is enough to drag the MBTA out of the red and into the black remains to be seen. Naturally Bostonians and neighboring residents hope the T and various bus lines will stay open late, and subsequently extend the annoyingly early nightlife in and around The Hub, but of course it requires more man power and resources.
