Stimulus funds slow, local taxes keep projects afloat

Even as federal stimulus money trickles slowly to San Mateo County, local Measure A transportation tax is keeping projects afloat during dire economic times.

Measure A, a half-cent sales tax in San Mateo County has raised more than $1.1 billion for cities in San Mateo County and continues to collect money for projects even as state stimulus money is slow to reach San Mateo County, one of the nation’s most affluent areas.

"While we have seen a slight decrease in sales tax revenue this fiscal year, it’s not extreme yet and we’re taking that into account as we plan ahead for fiscal year 2010,” Transportation Authority spokeswoman Tasha Bartholomew wrote in an e-mail to the Daily Journal.

Measure A was first approved by voters in 1988. Voters recently renewed the tax through 2033 and a percentage jump from 20 percent to 22.5 percent directed to cities that went into effect Jan. 1, 2009. Measure A collected $68.7 million in 2008. The other percentage of the money collected goes to other regional projects.

The funds are distributed based on a formula that includes population and road miles. Cities and the county can use the funds for projects such as paving streets, repairing potholes and sidewalks, traffic signal coordination, bike/pedestrian safety, as well as promoting shuttle use or carpool programs. The Transportation Authority can leverage the local funds to secure state and federal matching funds.

The local money could prove helpful since there are no San Mateo County transportation projects in a Metropolitan Transportation Commission request for money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The MTC is a regional group that allocates state and federal money for local projects. However, the county is requesting $2.13 million in federal stimulus money for local roads, according to an updated spending plan approved by the MTC Programing and Allocations Committee Wednesday.

The updated plan fully funds two ready-to-go bond projects, and would also fund an additional $23 million for local streets and road rehabilitation projects region-wide and $14 million for High-Occupancy Toll lane improvements in Alameda and Santa Clara counties.

When these major projects occur in San Mateo County, local jurisdictions can leverage Measure A money, Bartholomew said.

For example, a combination of Measure A and Proposition 1B funds, in addition to gas tax money, has helped the city of Burlingame perform dig-out repairs and asphalt resurfacing on 16 streets in the last year, including Cabrillo, Capuchino and Cortez avenues.

"Measure A funding has allowed Burlingame to move forward with many street enhancement projects,” TA Board Vice Chair Rosalie O’Mahony, who also serves on the Burlingame City Council, said in a prepared statement last week. "In these tight fiscal times, many other communities have been forced to put road maintenance on the back burner.”

Burlingame was allocated $8.4 million in Measure A money since 1989, according to the TA.

The TA was formed in 1988 to oversee the allocation of Measure A money. It also funds five other programs that focus on regional transit, highways, grade separations, pedestrian and bicycle travel and alternative congestion relief programs.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106.