TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY Monica Tibbits-Nutt predicts the task force she is heading on how to fund transportation in Massachusetts will be different from all those that have come before.
“It isn’t just like we hope this thing will happen,” she said after an MBTA board meeting on Thursday. “It’s if we do these steps, these are what we think we can get in projected revenue from these particular items, these particular interventions. It is going to be very specific. We’re not going to be dodging potential options just for political reasons. That’s what’s going to be different this time.”
Tibbits-Nutt said the task force will look at all sorts of revenue options as part of an effort to put the MBTA and regional transit authorities on sound financial footing and find a replacement for the gas tax, which is expected to shrink in importance over time as the state transitions from gasoline to electric-powered vehicles.
“The reason it is so broad is that we’re not looking at funding a particular project. We’re not looking at closing a particular fiscal year’s budget. We’re looking at the next 10 to 20 years and how are we going to pay for this,” she said.
The task force, created by executive order, will have 27 members, including six cabinet officials, the two chairs of the Legislature’s Transportation Committee, the general manager of the MBTA, the state’s climate chief, and the director of federal funds and infrastructure.
The panel will also include James Rooney, the CEO of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, who has been advocating for such a task force for several years. Other members will come from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, the Massachusetts Municipal Association, the MBTA Advisory Board, the Massachusetts Association of Regional Transit Authorities, the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership, and other business groups geographically dispersed across the state. Two additional members will come from organizations representing low-income rural and urban communities that have “historically been underserved by transit.”
The mandate in the executive order is broad. It refers to exploring “pricing mechanisms” to advance transportation and resiliency goals and generate sustainable funding. It also calls for strategies to encourage “mass transit, bicycle use, pedestrian-friendly development, and transit-oriented housing and economic development and discouraging carbon-intensive transportation uses.”
At the MBTA, the funding challenge is not something far down the road. It’s already here. The budget filed on Wednesday by Gov. Maura Healey provides enough money for the T to stay afloat in the coming fiscal year. But with spending far outpacing revenue at the T, mounting deficits are forecasted for the next four years, topping out at $905 million in fiscal 2029.
The last time state officials tried to put the MBTA on sound financial footing was 2000, when lawmakers steered a portion of state sales tax revenue to the T. Over the next 20 years, however, sales tax revenue “grossly underperformed expectations,” according to a presentation to the T board on Thursday. Sales tax revenue grew at an annual growth rate of 2.29 percent, well short of the forecasted growth rate of 6.5 percent to 8.5 percent. That translated into lost revenue of somewhere between $8.9 billion and $15 billion. The T’s finances also took a hit when the authority was saddled with nearly $5 billion in debt that came with hefty annual interest payments.
In their Thursday presentation, T officials suggested Beacon Hill must step up with new or additional revenue sources. They included a chart showing revenue sources of other peer transit agencies, including sales, gas, payroll, vehicle sales, vehicle rental, property, and real estate transaction taxes. Other revenue sources listed in the chart include fees on rideshares and vehicle licenses as well as tolls, congestion charges, and traffic violations.
Doug Howgate, the president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said he thought it was a good idea to try to tackle the question of where future funding should come from for roads, bridges, and transit.
“Bringing together a diverse group of folks to do that makes sense,” he said. “I think the question is what’s the end result. Is it 15 different people saying 15 different things or is there some sort of agreement? Hopefully we can build some sort of consensus there.”
The task force is charged with returning with a report by the end of this year.
Out west, and out of thin air
Gov. Healey’s executive order creating a transportation funding task force this week also appeared to create a new regional chamber of commerce.
The second section of Executive Order No. 626 outlined the task force’s membership, including representatives of various business groups. The 128 Business Council, the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, and the Pittsfield Chamber of Commerce were all specifically named. The problem with the last one is that the Pittsfield Chamber of Commerce doesn’t exist, unless we’re talking about the one in New Hampshire.
A Healey spokesperson acknowledged the mistake, and said the executive order should have referred to the 1Berkshire chamber. The organization was the result of a 2016 merger between four economic development groups, including the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce. A representative from 1Berkshire will be appointed to the task force, as originally intended, the Healey spokesperson said.