Referendum: The Frampton Update

From Caelie Frampton’s comprehensive Metro Vancouver Update:

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Regional Referendum for TransLink

The Province continues to move forward with plans for a referendum on transit funding for 2014 but next to nothing is known about the details. Minister of Transportation & Infrastructure Todd Stone says that if all parties can come to an agreement, changes could be in place as early as the spring session.

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In June, the Mayors’ Council unanimously opposed a referendum to determine further sources of funding for transit. The Mayors’ Council said in a press release they believe that “referenda are tools without context and would be divisive to the region” and “taking complex policy by referenda is contrary to principles of good governance.”

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Mayors across the region have said for years that they don’t want to pay for more major infrastructure projects with property tax increases. The need for more funding options was supported in 2010 with a Memorandum of Understanding to discuss a long-term funding signed by the Province and the Mayors’ Council.

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According to his mandate letter form the Premier, newly elected Minister Stone is to work with the Mayors’ Council to develop improvements to the governance structure and “identify funding options to provide additional resources to fund transit in the Lower Mainland while remembering that any new funding source would need approval from voters through a referendum no later than the 2014 municipal election campaign.”

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Several commentators have come out opposed to the referendum. The Canadian Auto Workers Local 111, representing bus drivers, raised concerns about the possibility of no new funding when riders are already facing overcrowding and pass-ups. “The BC government not only doesn’t have a fair question formulated, they are not even sure if the referendum will be held in November 2014 or the spring or whether the government will be supporting a YES vote to improve transit and funding for roads and bridges,” President Nathan Woods says. “This is the most critical vote in the history of public transit and transportation in BC and that’s not good enough.”

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Many questions loom around the referendum including the type of question, and responsibility for education and leadership. Former NDP Councillor Peter Ladner explains that the level of complication involved in such an undertaking: “Referendums are costly and complex. In Los Angeles, the combined information and political campaigns to win a 2008 ballot initiative cost more than $8 million. In St. Louis, a 2010 transit tax ballot question won after only $1.5 million in spending, whereas last year in Atlanta, in spite of widespread agreement that traffic was unbearable, a $9 million campaign for transit funding failed. Organizers said the scope of the campaign was comparable to electing a new governor.”

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With TransLink also facing a high level of public dissatisfaction, from executive pay increases to changes related to the Compass Cards, it will make it difficult to get a successful referendum vote around TransLink. As Gordon Price explains: “Those who want to get out a yes vote will have to defend TransLink first – something they really don’t want to have to do. Starting from a defensive position is not the way to get support for raising taxes.”

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This week, two young south of the Fraser based bloggers released a report on their research into funding a TransLink referendum: Paul Hillsdon and Nathan Pachal argued that a 0.5% regional sales tax could bring in $250 million per year. They argue a regional sales tax is a widely used funding mechanism for transport infrastructure in the United States.

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The TransLink Mayors’ Council had previously outlined their long term and short term funding priority options to the Province. The short-term funding sources are a regional vehicle registration fee, a 0.5% regional sales tax for public transit, and future reallocation of new incremental carbon tax revenues from within Metro Vancouver or a new regional carbon tax with revenue allocated to TransLink. The Mayors’ Council also supports potential long term funding options of land value capture and road pricing. These discussions have gone nowhere with the Province.

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Minister Stone will attend the TransLink Mayors’ Council meeting on September 26.