WMass to pay for MBTA shortfall?

BOSTON, Mass. (WWLP) - Advocates say lawmakers must consider new revenue to fill the budget shortfall within the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, which potentially includes making Western Massachusetts taxpayers contribute to the bill.

The MBTA is facing a $161 million deficit.  In an effort to stave off fare hikes and service cuts, advocates are scrambling for ways to fill the gap, including mileage tolls or even a statewide gas tax. 

“The reason why the entire state needs to invest in the system is because the entire state derives a benefit from the entire system,” said MassPIRG spokesperson Elizabeth Weyant.

Statewide taxes are not sitting well with local lawmakers.

“I don’t think that citizens of Berkshire, Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties ought to be asked to pay more to solve the problem at the MBTA,” said Sen. Benjamin Downing (D-Pittsfield).

Downing notes that the Berkshires already sends $20 million in sales tax revenue to fund Boston’s MBTA.  They get back a little over a million in state contract assistance for the Berkshire transit authority, which he says, is not a good return. 

Alternatively, advocates suggest regional solutions should solve regional transportation infrastructure problems.  For example, they suggest introducing a regional payroll tax so that cities and towns use their own resources to meet their own needs.

“Employers are located, you know, mostly in urban centers,” said MassINC research director Ben Forman.  “You can have a tax rate there that’s much lower than everywhere else or no tax potentially everywhere else.”

But with the House Speaker pledging no new taxes or fees, any increase in taxes appears unlikely.  Even Governor Deval Patrick, who once proposed a gas tax hike in 2009, is no longer on board with what is widely considered an unpopular tax.

“I’m not sure that the gas tax is necessarily that solution right now and I’m going to respect the process that MassDOT is pursuing right now to float their alternatives and get public feedback and we’ll go from there,” said Patrick.