I’m all for public transit as my wife takes it daily to and from work and it allows us to operate with only one vehicle in our household saving us thousands on gas, insurance, and taxes. I really feel for those families that require more than one car and especially those that have more than two especially when the Commissioners continue to raise taxes for the various forms of transit that are available to those that reside in Dakota County.
Let’s revert back to mid-2006 when the Commissioners, in their infinite wisdom, decided on the Dakota County Wheelage Tax which would only affect those that own a car (at $5 per car, yearly). This would raise an additional $1.5 to $1.7 million on top of the “limited” funding that we were receiving from the State. They claimed they were doing this so that property taxes wouldn’t rise more than they already had but instead were just shifting the tax somewhere else to pretend that they were really doing something “good”.
I have argued, in the past, that those in Dakota County that don’t own a vehicle are fucked. Public transit doesn’t exist here outside of those that are interested in working in Minneapolis. Even those that work in downtown St Paul have limited access to buses leaving from the Apple Valley Transit Station, arguably the busiest station in the area evidenced by the Commissioners forcing Watson’s to move to accommodate more transit riders. There is also the fact that when you serve on jury duty, there is absolutely no way to arrive at the courthouse in Hastings by mass transit and the County has lowered the amount of money they are willing to pay you daily for your service so you cannot even afford to get there by cab!
Now the Dakota County Commissioners are considering raising sales taxes, a quarter of a point, on top of all of the other taxes their residents are facing (additional state sponsored gas taxes, the county wheelage tax, higher property taxes, etc, etc) because there just isn’t enough funding for transit. Lakeville residents are using the Apple Valley Transit Station heavily and are not paying for it because Lakeville’s City Council is smart enough to avoid joining the MVTA tax district so that its residents get the “benefits” of the transit options nearby without any of the payments involved.
Why are the County Commissioners so hell bent on taking money from the pockets of those that live in the county? Do they not understand that they are further limiting our options while building transit infrastructure that goes unused (such as the barren transit station across from Cobblestone Lake)?
My suggestion is to force Lakeville into the tax district before you raise sales taxes on the rest of us. If the County Commissioners won’t find the best way to go about raising funding for transit, then they shouldn’t come crying to the rest of us to help those that are skating by for nothing.
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March 17th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
I agree that those who do not own a car in Apple Valley are screwed. I actually have no problem with raising the sales tax in order to fund more transportation for us. I believe that offering more transit options is good for growth in our community, and also good for property values.
About the Lakeville issue: I wonder if, legally, they could prevent Lakeville citizens from riding the MVTA buses? Those who were prevented from riding the buses would surely “make a stink” about it, and get more people thinking about this issue. I also wonder how many Lakeville residents utilize the MVTA system? Perhaps it is not a large percentage of the overall riders. Do you know how many Lakeville residents utilize the MVTA system? Very interesting; something I really hadn’t thought about before.
March 17th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
I think the ThisWeek article is talking about the fact that each county must approve the sales tax portion of the recent transportation tax increase at the state level. The veto override one. I saw an article @ Minnesota Majority on the subject. http://www.minnesotamajority.org/Home/tabid/112/EntryID/51/Default.aspx
I don’t know of any other sources of information on the subject; I thought it was already a done deal.
In the comments you will see a Dakota county board member’s response. Sounds like someone digging in my pocket.
After my 12%+ property tax increase, I’m still broke.
March 17th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Liz,
I wouldn’t have a problem if that was the only tax they were raising for transit related issues, unfortunately they continue to raise various taxes and never seem to get where they want to go. I can’t support that.
I’m sure that legally they can’t do anything about Lakeville residents *riding* the buses but I wonder if they could charge those that aren’t in the taxable districts to park at the transit station?
March 17th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
JP,
I am aware that the state tax increase veto was overridden, I am just hoping that the commissioners find a way to avoid raising County taxes even more :(