| For Immediate Release Los Angeles, CA June 22, 2009 | Press Contact: David Sommers Phone: (213) 974-1095 Fax: (213) 626-6941 |
Local Transportation Funding Protected In State Budget Deal
July 24, 2009 -- Supervisor Don Knabe, Chairman of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, praised State lawmakers this afternoon ending a plan to capture of local transportation dollars to help solve the California budget deficit.
Los Angeles County would lose nearly a quarter-billion dollars in local transportation and roadway maintenance funds under a proposal currently being considered by California State leaders.
A budget proposal would have taken two years of the local portion of the gas tax collected for the Highway Users Tax Account (HUTA), which comes from the 18-cent tax on gasoline and diesel fuel. In Los Angeles County, the County’s Department of Public Works would have lost approximately $173 million over the next two years for use in unincorporated areas. Cities within Los Angeles County would have lost tens of millions more for their own transportation needs.
A loss of the transit funding would have gutted core municipal services and programs provided by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works. The majority of County gas tax revenues received from the State directly funds road emergency response, road maintenance, street sweeping, street lighting, snow removal, traffic signal maintenance, tree maintenance and other critical services along the 3,422 miles of roadways and highways maintained by Public Works.
“I am grateful State lawmakers saw the light and took this proposal off the table,” said Supervisor Don Knabe. “The potential loss of these goes far beyond simply fixing potholes. These transportation dollars are used for public safety fleets, maintaining our first responder systems, and ensuring our streets don’t crumble away. Taxpayers pay for these funds at their local gas pumps, and the local money the State wanted to take will now rightfully stay in place to pay for local projects.”
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