For Immediate Release: Monday, February 2, 2015
Montgomery County Council President George Leventhal and Councilmember Roger Berliner, chair of the Council's Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee, issued the following statement today regarding transit funding for the County:
The first and nearest term decision regarding transit in Montgomery County is whether the Purple Line will proceed, which Governor Hogan and Transportation Secretary Rahn have said they will announce soon. Financing for the Purple Line has been identified, involving a public-private partnership including federal, state, local and private capital, and it is highly likely to be approved by the federal government.
If the Governor decides to go forward with the Purple Line, a discussion should then be convened immediately of how to pay for the Corridor Cities Transitway (CCT), for which a well-defined scope and cost estimate have been identified. Included in the discussion of CCT financing should be the willingness of commercial property owners adjacent to the transit line to bear a substantial portion of the cost, since the value of their property will benefit from the transit line so significantly. We anticipate state funding for this project and will also explore eligibility for federal funding.
Over the next two years, more detailed plans will be developed for the Route 29, Route 355 and Veirs Mill Road Rapid Transit Vehicle (RTV) lines. Each of these projects offers great promise and is a County priority. Within two years, we should have a much better defined scope and cost estimate for each. Once we know how much these lines will cost, we can develop options to pay for them, perhaps involving a combination of federal and state funding (if they are eligible), special tax assessments on commercial property owners who will benefit directly from the lines, and some revenues assessed equitably from all residents. Ample public dialogue will be held before any decisions on tax assessments are made.
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