.25% Sales Tax For The WRTA

[irishbobcat]

Back in the 20's,30's,and 40's....when there was no middle class public transportation was the only way to travel....I remember my father telling me about the bus rides from Campbell to Downtown Youngstown....

They say history repeats itself...so when NAFTA and free trade and China wipe out the middle class.....our children and grandchildren
will be back to public transportation....

[Towntalk]

I can agree with most of what you said Rick ... there are to be sure thousands of ways that the government is robbing us and all you have to do is look at all the pork that is in the just passes federal budget ... all 3000 pages of it.

Our borders are wide open ... our infrastructure is falling apart ... jobs are going overseas ... goods that we use to make here are now being made in China ... our health care system is reaching the point where only the rich can afford it ... our schools are a shambles ... we are being robbed by our legislators and they actually brag about it ... they are even trying now to tell use even what to eat and drink, and don't even mention the fact that they are forcing smokers and drinkers to pay for "benefits" for sports arenas etc., then telling them that they can't go there.

The list of complaints is endless. Just take a look at one of the features I have on my web site concernig Congressional Pork.

At for WRTA, I can also agree that for many, it's the straw that is breaking the proverbial camel's back. The question is, how can it be fixed so that expences can be cut.

Why for example do we need all the buses running after 7:00 PM? Why Saturday runs? People need to get places on holidays but the buses don't run so what is different about Saturday?

[Rick Rowlands]

I'm tired of so much of my money going to subsidize the "poor" or the "children" while I can't drive down a city street without getting the #%@&% jarred out of me from the horrible condition of the roads.   Lets put a sales tax levy on to fix the streets that EVERYONE uses, not continue to prop up a failed transist system that only a few people use.

I think you all forget what government is supposed to do.  Provide law and order, protect our borders, provide infrastructure and all those things that are neccesary for a civilization.  But instead what do we get?  Undermanned police departments, open borders, collapsing bridges and bombed out roads, and what do people clamour for?  Gimme, gimme, gimme,gimme,gimme. I want free buses, free health care, welfare, WIC, food stamps...

But poor old Rick has to go to work tonight in a cold mill building and work my butt off so that I can pay my taxes so that others may continue to freeload. 

I am so SICK AND TIRED of being in the middle class and constantly being queezed to pay for stuff that I don't use and never will use.   I want to be left alone, and to keep the money I earn! So go away with your talk of new taxes that benefit the few at the expense of all of us! 

You have quite some nerve westsider to state that you'll leave the area if you can't get the rest of us to pay for your transportation!  How about you come over here and fill my gas tank today?  If you want me to pay an additional tax that will keep your bus running then you should help me put fuel in my truck!  I have a better idea.  How about I pay for my gas and you pay for your bus and leave each other out of it.  I never ask the government for anything, just to be left alone.  But you want government to forcibly take my hard earned money so that you can go to the store this afternoon.  No!

[northside lurker]

This is a bit off-topic, but if the sales tax passes, maybe the WRTA could model their service after the Stark Area Regional Transit Authority. (SARTA)

They offer service to the whole county.  They run day, night, and even Sundays!  And, their fares are less, at $1.15.

http://www.sartaonline.com/

--edit--

I should have read a little further, the WRTA's story could be the same as SARTA's.

On December 1, 1997 the Canton Regional Transit Authority (CRTA) following the successful passage of a sales tax levy which replaced Canton RTA's property tax, began operation as the Stark Area Regional Transit Authority (SARTA). According to the RCW, establishing SARTA as Stark County's mobility provider, the agency would provide service to all of Stark County, Ohio.

[Towntalk]

I agree with you Westsider. My only point was that some folks were saying that the folks in the suburbs won't use WRTA for any reason but prefer their SUV's, forgetting that as I pointed out in a previous post that even they have their limits. Its getting to the point that between taxes, and costs of all the utilities, etc. even they will have to swallow their pride and leave the SUV in the garage and take the bus.

NO ONE IN THE SUBURBS HAS A LIMITLESS BUDGET. For that matter it makes little sense that a person in the suburbs would drive their car to work, let it sit there all day then drive home that night if they could take a bus that could take them right to their door unless that car were a part of their job. Most of the meaningful jobs are in the suburbs anyway.

By reorganizing the routes in the suburbs, WRTA could hit all the plaza's, malls and office buildings in Boardman by adding a shuddle bus.

[northside lurker]

If it's just a small minority of city people who are riding the bus while the vast majority drive their cars, why should they have a gun put to their head and be forced to pay their hard earned money to fund something they will never use?

Because it would be a sales tax, they wouldn't be "forced" to pay anything.

Without meaning to do it, you make a good case for closing WRTA. How many of the WRTA riders have a meaningful job, pay taxes, as opposed to folks on welfare who don't pay a dimes worth of taxes but derive their income from those who do work and pay taxes?

Car pooling makes more sense than funding a regional transit system that keeps running in the red.

What's not mentioned in these debates is the fact that there are alternative transportation systems for the poor that are also funded by the tax payers and operated by the Community Development Agency and a number of churches. These systems are more efficient than WRTA because they go door to door.

Eliminating the WRTA all together is a step in the wrong direction.  I currently know someone who is trying to relocate because of our very limited mass-transit system.  I would also relocate if the WRTA was eliminated entirely.

If the system were expanded to serve the whole county, I think more people would use it.  Currently, the service is too limited to work for most people.  (The service was too limited when I moved here 7 years ago, and it has gotten much worse with the service cuts recently.)

[Towntalk]

If it's just a small minority of city people who are riding the bus while the vast majority drive their cars, why should they have a gun put to their head and be forced to pay their hard earned money to fund something they will never use?

Without meaning to do it, you make a good case for closing WRTA. How many of the WRTA riders have a meaningful job, pay taxes, as opposed to folks on welfare who don't pay a dimes worth of taxes but derive their income from those who do work and pay taxes?

Car pooling makes more sense than funding a regional transet system that keeps runing in the red.

What's not mentioned in these debates is the fact that there are alternative transportation systems for the poor that are also funded by the tax payers and operated by the Community Development Agency and a number of churches. These systems are more efficient than WRTA because they go door to door.

[northside lurker]

Question
How much revenue would the .25% sale tax provide for the bus system each year?

According to this Vindy article:
http://www.vindy.com/content/local_regional/293298124761741.php
the tax would generate about $7.5 million annually.  I don't remember the number, but this is significantly more than their current budget.

[jay]

Even though Youngstown has the lowest household income of any community in the valley, the average Youngstown resident does not use the WRTA.  Although there might be some support for the transit  sales tax in the suburbs, it won't be enough to pass the tax throughout the county.

Question
How much revenue would the .25% sale tax provide for the bus system each year?

[Towntalk]

You're overlooking some factors Jay:

Mortgages on homes to be paid ... ever increasing utility bills ... ever increasing tax bills ... a stagnate regional economy ... high health care insurance bills.

The folks in the suburbs aren't filthy rich, but because they are for the most part in a higher income tax bracket than the city folks, they do not qualify for many of the state and federal programs that could help them, so what is the first thing that goes when their debts outstrip their income? That second car? That satellite dish? Those nights dining out? Going to the theater? Or trying to keep the wolf away from their door?

What do you think the average family in Boardman or Canfield, or Poland has to shell out for home insurance ... for health insurance ... for utilities?

Sooner or later the bubble will burst and bankruptcy floods in.

Sooner or later public transportation will no longer be an option but a necessity.

[jay]

Most residents in the suburbs will not vote for this levy.  They usually have multiple cars per household and do not see the need for mass transportation.

[AllanY2525]

I think that one fourth of one percent is a very reasonable amount, if
it will help improve the mass-transit system in the Youngstown area.

As I have said before, having an efficient and cost-effective system
of public transportation is absolutely critical to the continued recovery
of the local economy in the Youngstown area.

[Mary]

We would also.

[northside lurker]

I certainly would.  But I don't think I'm in the majority.

[jay]

The director of the WRTA went before the Mahoning County Commissioners and asked that a .25% sales tax levy be placed on the ballot to expand the WRTA bus service throughout the entire county.

Would the residents of Mahoning County be willing to pay an additional sale tax for this expanded bus service?