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  • Gas Tax increase, Transportation fund = NJ Transit growth?Th

  • Discussion related to New Jersey Transit rail and light rail operations.
Discussion related to New Jersey Transit rail and light rail operations.

Moderators: lensovet, Kaback9, nick11a

 #1403240  by Tom V
 
The deal to increase the gas tax by .23 cents per gallon will add $32 Billion to the transportation fund when you include Federal funds over the next eight years. With this replenishment, the recent NJ Transit accident, and hopefully a more pro transit Trenton when Christi leaves, could this combine for a new day for NJ Transit's fortunes? And where might we see the benefits?
 #1403249  by Ken W2KB
 
In part, the answer depends on what pet interests the state elected officials have. It is my understanding that at least part of NJT operations is subsidized by general funds. What Trenton is wont to do when a new source of revenue is found, is to reduce amounts previously paid by general funds and use those funds elsewhere. For example, assume $xxx million annually from general funds is presently used to subsidize NJT. After the increased tax, that $xxx million is replaced by funds from the increased tax and the $xxx previously going to NJT is now sent to some non-transportation program. The net effect is that NJT and other transporatation programs have less of an increase than the increased tax would appear to supply.
 #1403258  by andegold
 
Ken you and I both know that is exactly what will happen just as it happens in every state with lottery money and education. Whatever money is raised by dedicated fund is no longer provided by the general fund. Unless the new source exceeds the entire old budget there will be no net change. What does change is the reliability of those funds and the inability for the state to strangle the agency by reducing funds. Question: when there is a government shutdown does it affect agencies that are funded through dedicated sources such as this?
 #1403328  by johndmuller
 
Prior proposals along these lines were always paired with measures to make corresponding reductions in other taxes to "pay for" the increase in the gas tax. I believe that the estate tax and some percentage off the sales tax were going to be the items reduced. I suppose that there were no shortage of opponents to one or the other of these changes, so that was why the measure had so far gone nowhere. Such a pairing would obviously be transferring funding from other state expenditures to highways and rails - other expenditures, which can include stuff one might not approve of cutting (fill in your own blank there and consider who will be deciding what to cut).

In the flurry to do something after the crash, the Guv suddenly announced that lo and behold a deal had been reached, and while I thought I heard something about the funds being offset somehow (i.e. by cuts elsewhere), I can't be sure if that is what he said and if so whether it was a full offset and where the funds came from if so. So like they say, if it seems too good to be true, . . .

In any case, if the kind of switcheroo discussed above also occurs, and the transit portion of the new money is simply deducted from the normal general fund allocation and no net new money finds it way into transit, the Guv will possibly have been able to get rid of some sales tax and the estate tax, feed the highway fund and end up with extra money in hand to plug whatever other gaps and shortfalls there are that have been so far kept from prying eyes.
 #1403825  by time
 
I'm not sure we'll see growth of the NJT system, but we should definitely see improvements. I'd prefer to see improvements like extending catenary and making a passing track for the Montclair-Booton line to get Morris & Essex level services west of MSU. Creating a third track from Millburn to Summit to increase operational capacity. Creating a third track and a new bridge over the Passaic from Newark Broad Street to wherever it becomes three tracks again. Essentially, clearing out the bottlenecks of the system and allowing things to run smoothly, especially when there are operational issues that foul up a track.

These projects don't require coordination with Amtrak or MetroNorth, are exclusively NJT territory and serve three of NJT's highly trafficked lines. This also prepares for additional capacity for the future, when more frequent peak MidTown Direct service could run as new tunnels and additional tracks are added to New York Penn (in 200 years).
 #1403927  by Tom V
 
A bill that would raise the state gas tax will also set up the mechanism for lawmakers to deliver their promises to build light rail lines in Bergen County and South Jersey.

While the bill doesn't specifically mention the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail extension or the proposed South Jersey Light Rail line, it sets up a committee that would make those projects a priority, legislative officials said.

That panel will have annual review and veto power over all state transportation projects paid for by the Transportation Trust Fund, legislative officials said.
.

http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2016 ... nties.html

This would be a good start.
 #1404213  by adamj023
 
Steampowered wrote:People are going to leave NJ in droves now. The transportation fund was sacked, and they ran out of money to steal something else. There was no excuse for this last accident If anything it just prove the legislators incompetence.
Quite the contrary. Sales taxes were lowered and estate tax was removed. NJ transit needs to cut wasteful spending and fund improvents into existing system going forward. Newer locomotives and train sets from late 90s and newer equipped with positive train control along with existing expenditures and projects for NJ Transit.

LIRR has the newest set of replacement cars due in. NJ Transit fleet is older and has really old rebuilt locomotives and train cars which are past their useful lives. They need to procure an order of new train sets to replace the oldest in the fleet.

The Bill needs to be signed by Governor Christie and put in place for funding on November 1st.

I think NJ transit needs smart growth where it is absolutely needed. Secaucus Junction fortunately was up even when Hoboken went down which was built after Hoboken and now has more passengers. Hoboken will get repaired and half will be open on Monday.

No one is going to leave NJ over this crash. In fact the state will be in a lot better shape going forward.
 #1404280  by Tom V
 
Here's an idea I thought of a while back for streamlining some of NJ Transit's structure, why have a separate NJ Transit police force? It seems too small and responsible for too large of an area to be effective. Why not merge the NJ Transit police force with the State Police, similar to what was done with the NYC Transit Police merger into the NYPD. The State police would simply be responsible for any NJ Transit trains, buses, depots etc.. in their respective areas. For instance NJ State Police assigned to the Parkway/Turnpike Divisions could be responsible for patrolling a station like Metropark. Separate commands could be set up in Hoboken, Newark etc. for larger facilities. Merging these police forces would reduce redundancies in command structure as well as assets.
 #1404408  by Steampowered
 
The sales tax was not lowered. It will be lower incrementally if at all . Reading comprehension is also a good thing. Its easy to see that i DIDNT say people would leave the state because of the crash. The estate tax affect maybe 2% of the population. The state it self is to blame for dragging its feet on the safety improvements , If its NJT or NJ State, i dont care, with taxes this high we should have brand new trains every year with servers available with snacks and drinks
 #1404519  by CJPat
 
Do we all realize there never was a "Transportation Fund".

All money collected is poured directly into the General Fund. The "Transportation Fund" never went bankrupt as it never legally existed. The use of the term "Transportation Fund" was a smoke and mirror game to make the taxpayer think that an organized amount of money was set out specifically for transportation related use. This is not so. All that is done is that $XXX millions is earmarked in the annual budget for DOT related department use but this budget can be redirected to where they feel they want to use it later.

The problem is that the politicians have made so many personal grabs into the Basket to fund their pet personal gain projects just to generate bondg and legal fees which are paid to the politician's related legal office connections - read kickbacks. That is how they so badly mismanaged the State Budgets for years, that they can't collect enough of the taxpayers money. We are buried under $32-$40 Billion (what is the latest figures?) of loans that we can't pay the interest on, much less the principal so the debt never reduces. Like a man dying of thirst in the middle of the ocean.

By State Law, the only way to have a Fund that has a dedicated use is to add it by State Constitution Amendment and then the money is protected (some what). No easy task. The gas tax hike is just extra taxes to be poured into the General Fund to be used anywhere the politicians feel. What the gas tax does do is allow the politicians to to take out more Loans and Bonds (and get additional kickbacks) using the expected new tax intake as the "collateral" to appease the bankers and bury us further in debt. They were doing this with the AC Casino intake but when the market started tanking, the gambling fell off, cutting into the politicians profits.

There may be new funding made available to NJT, but it will cost us us more Loans and Bonds that we have to take out. The tax hike does not fix that.
 #1405158  by CLamb
 
What we call the Transportation Trust Fund is referred to in the Constitution as "a special account in the General Fund". The use of that fund is described in Amend Article VIII, Section II, paragraph 4, subparagraph (c). It is quoted in the bill proposing the amendment on the upcoming ballot which can be seen here http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2014/Bills/ACR/1_I1.HTM
 #1407675  by Defiant
 
CLamb wrote:What we call the Transportation Trust Fund is referred to in the Constitution as "a special account in the General Fund". The use of that fund is described in Amend Article VIII, Section II, paragraph 4, subparagraph (c). It is quoted in the bill proposing the amendment on the upcoming ballot which can be seen here http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2014/Bills/ACR/1_I1.HTM
Any idea why the "Proposed Amendment" section starts with some weird recap of what was collected in 2007, 2001, 2002, etc. That makes that section completely unreadable. The "Statement" section is clearer. Still I don't understand if they want to dedicate all the taxes to that special account or a portion of them?