Governor spending plan hurts transit

Fewer transit routes could be one result of the governor’s supplemental transportation budget request.

Sponsored by Rep. Doug Magnus (R-Slayton), HF3964 was shared with the House Transportation Finance Committee March 17. No action was taken.

Under the plan, the Transportation Department would receive an additional $6.85 million in the current fiscal year, and a Fiscal Year 2009 reduction of $2.5 million.

The onetime influx is needed to obtain the state’s share of $1 billion in additional federal bridge funding that was appropriated by Congress earlier this year.

The plan also includes a 4 percent ongoing reduction ($752,000 in Fiscal Year 2009) in grants to Greater Minnesota transit and a $1.7 million onetime reduction.

“The reduction is consistent with the governor’s ongoing attempt to balance the General Fund deficit, and is consistent with other agencies,” said Kevin Gray, MnDOT chief financial officer.

“We’re anticipating the adjustment in the governor’s proposal to impact the transit systems roughly about 10,000 hours in calendar year 2008 and another 40,000 hours in calendar year 2009,” said Tom Gottfried, transit programs section director with the department’s Office of Transit. There was an estimated 980,000 hours of Greater Minnesota transit in 2007.

The Twin Cities metropolitan area could also see less service because the governor’s plan calls for $29.9 million in bus system operation reductions for the Metropolitan Council in Fiscal Year 2009, and reduces the base appropriation in the 2010-11 biennium by $3.2 million per year.

“There would be a fairly significant fare increase or route reductions if this stays as is,” said Council Chairman Peter Bell.

Rep. Alice Hausman (DFL-St. Paul) added, “We need to be going the other way.”

“I don’t want to cut either, but we’ve got to make some choices here,” Magnus said. “We’ll be wrestling this for a long time.”

The bill allocates $12 million to the Driver and Vehicle Services Division of the Public Safety Department for the replacement of an outdated driver and vehicle services information system. Also within the department is a $28,000 cut for a Republican National Convention security coordinator.

A companion bill, SF3686, sponsored by Sen. Michael Jungbauer (R-East Bethel), awaits action by the Senate Finance Committee.