Reject Broward penny-tax slush fund. Trust-us transportation plan is full of holes

We find ourselves in a place we don’t want to be today — encouraging voters to reject the penny sales tax increase Broward County commissioners put on the Nov. 6 ballot to fund transportation improvements.

Without question, Broward needs more money to address traffic congestion, the number one complaint commissioners say they hear. But hardly anyone believes this

30-year plan to spend close to $16 billion is solid.

Even those promoting this pipe dream lack confidence the proposed $4 billion light rail system will ever be built. They tell us the plan’s first five years is solid, though. And without this money, they say Broward can’t attract matching state and federal transportation dollars. And with traffic getting worse, we just can’t wait another minute.

So, trust us. That’s the essence of the County Commission’s pitch to raise the sales tax from six to seven cents. Trust that we and our successors will wisely spend

$16 billion, an unheard of sum as far as these things go. And trust us to impose this tax for decades, without returning to voters for reauthorization.

What could possibly go wrong?

Over promise, under deliver

Let’s see. How did a similar promise work out for Miami-Dade County, whose voters raised the sales tax half a penny 20 years ago to expand Metrorail? The county promised the half-cent would fund 89 more miles of rail. It’s built four.

And how’s the Broward School District doing at delivering the school repairs and additions it promised when asking voters to raise taxes for an $800 million bond four years ago? It’s already years behind schedule and way over-budget.

And how about the 2.8-mile Wave streetcar, Broward’s first so-called leg of light rail? Without a foot of rail being laid, it got ditched this year after construction bids far exceeded expectations, sticking taxpayers with a $33.7 million planning tab.

Before commissioners voted to put the sales tax increase on the Nov. 6 ballot, we encouraged them to draft a plan we could support — a realistic 10-year plan to expand roads, widen intersections, synchronize lights, add more buses, enhance paratransit services, lay fiberoptic cable and more. Prove you can deliver, we pleaded.

But no. Not wanting to “overthink this to death,” as Commissioner Michael Udine put it, the commission rushed ahead with a full-penny plan that mirrored the half-cent pitch it made two years ago. In fact, it listed many outdated projects, some from a plan nine years old. Only Commissioner Mark Bogen wisely voted no, saying, “I think before asking to spend billions of dollars, we need more specifics.”

The political strategy

Besides the need for more money, the commission’s haste is driven by the fact that 51 percent of Broward voters approved that half-cent transportation tax two years ago. But the tax died, entwined with a twin half-cent increase for infrastructure that voters rejected.

Timing-wise, commissioners see November as their best bet. Not just because they didn’t want to compete with the school board, which in August asked voters to raise taxes again, this time for teacher salaries and security measures. Or that in March, some number of cities plan to ask voters to raise taxes again for police buildings, golf courses and parks.

The rush is on because this is Broward — Florida’s bluest county — where Democrats outnumber Republicans two to one. And strategists expect a large number of disgruntled Democrats to turn out for the congressional mid-term and gubernatorial

election. And they’re betting the county’s “tax-and-spend” reflexes will kick in and punt the transportation tax over the top.

A better plan brewing

The shame is, the Metropolitan Planning Organization, which studies and plans transportation solutions, is working on a long-term plan with far more potential to better move people east and west, and north and south, across Broward. The MPO’s 2045 regional transportation plan needs at least another year of work, but its vision addresses the revolution coming with autonomous vehicles, which could allow narrower road lanes — which means more road lanes — on existing thoroughfares.

The MPO is also looking at overpasses, and some underpasses, at chokepoints on roads such as Griffin and University Drive, and the namesake boulevards of Hallandale Beach, Broward and Oakland Park.

Think about that. An overpass at your worst-nightmare intersection. You’d pay a SunPass toll to drive over, perhaps under, the backup.

And if neighbors agree, they’d see less congestion on local roads.

It’s a big idea with a big pricetag. At least $8 billion, in fact. But it’s not included in the $16 billion plan the county says you can take to the bank.

Not so fast, we’re told. The plan is flexible. It includes $1 billion in contingencies.

Is the plan so flexible that the light rail system might be shelved?

It’s hard to get a straight answer, but we believe such an outcome is likely.

Think about that. You’re being asked to approve a budget that includes $4 billion for an old-school light rail system powered by overhead wires — and no one can say for sure that the system will be built.

Trust us.

The light rail plan

The plan, such as it is, is to run light rail down Broward Boulevard from downtown Fort Lauderdale to U.S. 441, where it will sprout spurs north to Commercial Boulevard and south to Sterling Road. Then, continuing west on Broward, the line will run to University Boulevard, where it will sprout a southern spur to Nova Southeastern University, before moving north to Sunrise Boulevard and west to Sawgrass Mills.

Problem is, the rail line runs through Plantation. And like their predecessors, almost every candidate running for the Plantation City Council is against it, including the two candidates running for mayor, Lynn Stoner and Pete Tingom.

You can’t blame them. They hear the

traffic complaints, too. And this plan could remove a travel lane from Broward and University Boulevards in both directions. The other option would be to run the line down the median, though the median would have to be widened to let trains pass in either direction. Would rail ridership really make up for the lost roadway capacity? How do we know?

County commissioners try not to talk so much about light rail. They’d rather talk about paratransit, community shuttles, fiber optics and light synchronization. In fact, when drafting the ballot question, they listed rail below sidewalks and bike paths.

And try to find the $4 billion light rail plan on the county’s Penny for Transportation website. If you spot it, let us know.

Trust us.

New rail plans afoot at airport

Commissioner Steve Geller, who represents Plantation, has consistently raised concerns about the rail plan, though he voted to put the proposal on the ballot.

In an August email to the Plantation City Council, Geller wrote that “no light rail, other than the airport-seaport corridor, is guaranteed as a result of the passage of the surtax.”

But even the airport-seaport rail corridor is not guaranteed.

Brightline wants to build a second Broward station at the Fort LauderdaleHollywood International Airport and is in negotiations with the county to lease land there. If this happens, forget about light rail going to the airport. Once riders reach the downtown Fort Lauderdale station, they’d have to wait to board a Brightline train.

What’s most irksome about this proposal is not that the county continues to promise that light rail will go to the airport. What’s irksome is that the county appears ready to throw in its best bet for getting a rail system that makes sense.

Most everyone agrees commuter rail is needed on the Brightline-FEC rail corridor that runs through 41 South Florida downtowns. (Commuter rail, or heavy rail, is generally powered by diesel-electric locomotives, not overhead lines. It also runs on the same kind of track as freight trains.)

But Brightline refuses to come to the table to discuss commuter rail on its tracks.

If Brightline wants a station at the airport, which would well serve our region, the county should insist it negotiate a deal for the Coastal Link commuter-rail plan, which would well serve our region.

So far, the county appears solely focused on the deal to lease its land.

Trust us.

Let us address a few other arguments made in the pitch to raise the sales tax.

Tourists generate 30 percent of Broward sales tax revenues. That may well be true. But that leaves local residents paying the other $11 billion, with other local taxes and fees continuing to rise. The United Way’s ALICE Report says 44 percent of South Florida households live paycheck to paycheck, struggling to cover the basics like food, health care and childcare. The sales tax is regressive, hitting poor households hardest. They deserve a bankable plan.

Among Florida’s 67 counties, 62 have passed surtaxes. Broward has not. But only two of those counties have passed surtaxes — the formal name for sales taxes — for transportation. The others are for infrastructure, health care or for government services in small counties.

Among Florida counties, Broward is dead last in transportation spending. How, in heaven’s name, could that be? If traffic congestion is the number one complaint, why has the county commission failed to prioritize transportation? Hillsborough County had 500,000 fewer people than Broward in 2015, yet spent $30 million more on roads and streets, the latest records available show. And Hillsborough, whose county seat is Tampa, doesn’t levy a sales tax for transportation.

Broward’s city leaders support the tax. Yes, 30 of Broward’s 31 cities have approved the Interlocal Agreement for distributing the proposed sales tax revenue. But city leaders were told that if they didn’t sign it, and the tax passes, they wouldn’t get their 10 percent the first year. Some told us they felt like they had a gun put to their heads.

Broward is the only county with a 6 percent sales tax. Is that a bad thing? Gov. Rick Scott says low taxes attract businesses. Isn’t our tax rate a competitive advantage? If another county raises taxes, should we raise taxes, too?

An independent oversight board will ensure sound spending. County Administrator Bertha Henry last week told WLRN public radio that the independent board would review the plan annually and “make sure that what we tell the public we’re going to do with these funds — that in fact that’s what we’re doing with these funds.”

Last we heard, the board will be appointed by the Broward Workshop, the chambers of commerce, county administration, Florida Atlantic University’s center for environmental studies, the Urban League, Hispanic Unity of Florida and the League of Cities.

While outside eyes are always helpful, if any of these organizations have members who plan to bid or lobby for the work, a real potential exists for conflicts of interest.

Plus, as you’ll see elsewhere on the ballot, outside boards aren’t always effective. Proposed changes to Broward’s county charter reveal some outside boards have problems getting members to show up or replacements appointed.

All told, this trust-us sales tax plan doesn’t add up.

The county should have waited for the MPO’s long-range plan, but rushed to go before voters in a gubernatorial election year.

We’re told commissioners promise to follow the MPO’s plan, which may need $8 billion to attract matching funds for overpasses and underpasses. If such a promise has been made, the promises in today’s pitch will evaporate.

When government asks voters for money, it typically lays out a spending plan you can take to the bank.

No banker would loan money for this squishy plan.

And no matter how democratic you consider yourself, neither should you.

Trust us.

Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O’Hara, David Lyons and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson.

COURTESY Broward County over-reached by putting a penny sales tax increase for transportation on the November ballot. The tax would last 30 years and raise $16 billion. How the money would be spent is “flexible,” meaning the plan isn’t solid. We encourage voters to vote NO.