That One

What part of "Dedicated Transit Funding" don't they get?

I couldn't have put it better myself, but that doesn't mean I won't try.

Special quote from the above Allegheny Institute post:
"The section of Act 44 creating the ability to levy the [drink and car rental] taxes is called “Taxation for Public Transportation”"

In August, the sleazy Mr Onorato said this:
"Every transit agency in the United States has a local dedicated tax except us. We're the only ones who use local property taxes and that's why our taxes are high. Almost all use a local sales which I wanted to use but Harrisburg didn't give me that option." (reference)

So the tax act is intended for funding public transportation. Dan, the Taxman, has said that the tax was for the "transit agency". And yet, now, he's nit-picking the legal jargon to say that he can use the money for whatever road project he wants - after setting aside the $27 million for Port Authority and NOT GIVING IT TO THEM.

I want to have my cake and eat it, too.

I'm so glad this cake-eating monster is in power in the County and withholding money from mass transit without actually getting involved in union negotiations and now will waste OUR tax money on fighting a law suit against spending OUR tax money on MASS transit.

Signs of Reason?

Mr Onorato in recommending lowering the drink tax to 7% has finally caved to partial reason proving he hasn't yet gone completely insane.

"Because of that [over-abundance of revenue], Mr. Onorato, who said he will use this year's excess drink tax revenues for infrastructure development and debt service, plans to trim the levy to 7 percent in his 2009 budget proposal, which he will present to County Council on Oct. 7."

3 Issues Remain:

1) How come Port Authority still hasn't seen ANY of this money and is at risk of going bankrupt?

2) Why does Dan feel that he can spend the extra money on "infrastructure development and debt service"? If the county needs more money, raise and/or re-assess the property tax in this danned county! Why not set aside a special loan fund for helping out beleaguered restaurants and bars? Or how about more money for ailing Port Authority since that's what the drink tax was collected for? Or how about a simple rebate for these bar and restaurant owners? Ever heard of fostering good will, Dan?

3) What impact does the car rental tax have on all this? Every article always ignores the rental car tax revenue. Is it just generating such a negligible income that it should be removed? Is it hurting our tourist economy in any way? Is it hurting our many low-income residents who rely on renting a car to get out of the city because of our abysmal inter-city public transportation options?

(reference: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08269/914883-46.stm)