A Fair Compromise on Transit

Metro needs a lot of things, and one thing it is getting is a tax cut. Legislation has been sent to Governor Blunt to remove the diesal tax paid by transit agencies in Missouri, pretty much just Metro in St. Louis and ATA in Kansas City.  This is a long-overdue move.  It astounds me that Metro and ATA were ever forced to pay fuel taxes in the first place.  While the savings for Metro are small compared to what they say their overall needs are, this is a good move by the legislature. 

Now we apparently will be moving onto a debate over putting a tax increase for Metro on the ballot in St. Louis County and then passing or defeating that tax increase.  I think it should go on the ballot, where it will likely fail.  I will probably vote for it, but I live close to MetroLink and my wife and I use it with some regularity.  If I lived in an area not well served by MetroLink, which is most of the county, I don’t know how I would vote.