DART navigates future funding
PERRY BEEMAN Sep 28, 2018 | 2:22 pm
3 min read time
777 wordsAll Latest News, Business Record Insider, TransportationThe commissioners at DART have heard a lot of buzz about the transportation agency’s budget lately, and not all of it has been accurate.
We sat down with Board Chairman Tom Gayman, an Urbandale City Council member; Pleasant Hill Mayor Sara Kurovski, the board’s secretary/treasurer; and Amanda Wanke, chief external affairs officer, to get an update on how the debate over funding is proceeding ahead of the commission’s meeting at noon Tuesday at DART Central Station. Commissioners will be discussing legislative goals at that meeting, including the possibility of asking lawmakers to raise the levy cap.
Whether lawmakers would approve that change remains unclear. If the cap were raised, the DART commission would decide each year whether to raise the property levy, after holding a public hearing, Wanke said.
The Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority, commonly called DART, is at a bit of a crossroads. There has been, and continues to be, long-range planning that calls for a range of possible new services. Ideas include multi-model stations, new bus shelters, and routes featuring specially branded buses that can keep green traffic signals on longer to make trips quicker.
There also will be discussion of increasing how often the buses runs on some routes, Wanke said.
Commissioners regularly get requests for new services, and workers in the area, particularly millennials, have demanded improvements for years.
“We get demand for new services daily and weekly,” Gayman said. “The revenue is not there to deliver all these expanded services.”
The current financing plan makes it virtually impossible to keep the present services in place in the long term, let alone add more services.
Gayman said DART is running frugally, and data show its costs are below many of its peers. “DART doesn’t have an expense problem,” Gayman said. “The budget is as tight as can be. If we can’t make progress on revenue, there will be reductions in service.”
But clearly more revenue will be needed if the system is to expand, a key demand from many young workers in Greater Des Moines’ growing business base.
Though no decision has been made to raise the levy, commissioners plan to discuss asking lawmakers to raise the cap to $1.95 per $1,000 taxable valuation to give DART more options in meeting revenue needs, Gayman said.
DART has added several contracts in which area businesses are paying for specific services, typically routes that offer employees a good way to get to work, Wanke said. The agency will continue to look for corporate support, but commissioners have discussed the need to have a higher levy cap to have more flexibility in revenue decisions, she added.
Kurovski said it’s frustrating that state law gives lawmakers control over a local decision. “This is about home rule. Why do we have a board if we have to go to the Legislature for everything? We can’t control our own destiny.”
The Legislature passed the 2006 law that allowed the creation of DART, and the levy cap is part of state law.
The HNTB report identified all kinds of revenue options, such as vehicle and parking taxes, an increase in the sales tax, hotel/motel taxes, along with money from businesses. The corporate support is still in the mix, but commissioners have decided not to push the sales tax issue now, and the others didn’t seem immediately viable, Gayman said. The prospect of some increase in property taxes for DART appears to be the most likely other option.
A study by HNTB on behalf of the Greater Des Moines Partnership and area business leaders showed that DART would face a shortfall by 2025 even if the property tax levy in each member city were raised to the current state-imposed limit of 95 cents per $1,000 in taxable valuation.
But if the cap were raised, the existing services could be extended through 2040, with the levy varying by city and ranging from $1.30 and $1.71 per $1,000.
But another option would have residents of all DART member communities pay the same levy, and ask state lawmakers to raise the cap to give DART commissioners more flexibility. A levy in the range of $1.17 would sustain the present services though 2040, while a levy approaching $2 per $1,000 would allow some added services. Any increases, if approved, would likely be incremental over a long period.
DART also is looking at the possibility of losing $600,000 in state aid that is supposed to compensate DART for state property tax cuts years ago. State lawmakers have discussed phasing out the “backfill” payments to local governments. That alone would equate to a 2- to 3-cent increase in the DART property tax levy, Wanke said.