An effort to place a .8 percent Hamilton County sales tax levy before voters is getting support from some conservative backers.
Republican State Rep. Bill Seitz and Democrat Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes today (Feb. 14) held a news conference in Westwood to announce their support for Issue 7, a sales tax that would help fund major improvements to the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority’s struggling Metro bus system as well as make investments in infrastructure maintenance.
“This is one of those rare instances when the community is faced with an opportunity that is truly bipartisan and beneficial to everyone,” Seitz said at the news conference. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a bus rider or not — this will give us the chance to begin tackling the serious infrastructure challenges like the Western Hills Viaduct and so many others facing Hamilton County. It’s simply a deal too good to pass up.”
Though Rhodes is a Democrat, he has long held conservative views when it comes to spending and taxation. He says that he’s supporting Issue 7, though, calling it “a good deal for taxpayers.”
“There are times when it is critical that the entire community comes together to support worthwhile endeavors, and voting in favor of Issue 7 in the March Primary is one of those times,” Rhodes said. “It’s the right thing to do. We need to ensure a transit system that is efficient and produces the kind of economic growth our community needs. And on top of that, this will give us a prime opportunity to begin tackling serious infrastructure problems that are long overdue and in need of immediate attention.”
Three-quarters of the estimated $130 million a year the 25-year the levy would raise would go to bus service, while another quarter would go to infrastructure improvements throughout the region that benefit public transit in some way. According to the ballot language the board approved, none of the money could be used for Cincinnati’s streetcar.
Metro says it wants the money to fund an ambitious plan called Reinventing Metro to expand and improve bus service throughout Greater Cincinnati. The plan promises eight new bus routes to and from employment centers around the county; expanded hours and more frequent service on existing routes throughout the week and on weekends; 24-hour service along six major corridors; new transit centers; smaller circulator buses and crosstown routes; and better service for people with disabilities.
A nine-member board called the Hamilton County Integrating Committee would approve expenditure of the roughly $30 million collected for infrastructure under the proposed sales tax. Some of that money would almost certainly go to big projects like the Western Hills Viaduct, which is at the end of its lifespan.
Cincinnati and Hamilton County have struggled to come up with the $335 million to replace the viaduct. The more than half-mile-long bridge opened in 1932. Experts say it is still safe, though the lower deck of the bridge has been shut down temporarily after debris has fallen from its upper span.
Should voters approve the levy, the .3 portion of the city’s earnings tax that pays for buses would be eliminated, per a citywide ballot issue voters okayed by a wide margin last year. That would mean those who work in Cincinnati would pay $50 million less in taxes and the city’s income tax rate would go from 2.1 percent to 1.8 percent — the lowest of major cities in Ohio.
Since 1973, Metro has been funded by that .3-percent earnings tax, along with scant state contributions and some federal dollars. That’s highly unusual — most large transit systems are funded by county taxpayers.
Metro currently gets by on $100 million a year. But the bus system badly needs more funding. It faced a $5.8 million budget deficit last year and needs many millions of dollars in investment to become better-functioning and connect more Greater Cincinnati residents to jobs.
Metro’s precarious financial situation hasn’t been helped by state funding. Ohio’s state funding for public transit per capita is among the lowest in the country. Some help will likely be coming to Metro’s budget via a 10.5-cent increase in the state’s gas tax, however, which will generate roughly $70 million more for public transit every year. But that money will need to be divvied up among the state’s 60 transit agencies.
Thousands of riders on SORTA’s Metro system face long, convoluted commutes, some riding for more than an hour and taking transfers to get from one Cincinnati neighborhood to another just a few miles away. Those riders include people like Whitney Harmon, whom CityBeat spoke to for an earlier story on Metro. Harmon rides the bus an hour each way from her home in Winton Terrace to her job as a cook downtown. Others face even longer commutes.
A University of Minnesota report last year ranked Cincinnati 39th in the country in terms of jobs accessible by public transit, even though the city ranks 26th in overall employment.
This article appears in Feb 5-18, 2020.
