Perdue supports cutting MARTA slack on funding restrictions
Gov says he wants a three-year suspension on spending restrictions — but transit agency faces immediate problems
After years of pleading with state lawmakers, MARTA might finally catch a break. But it’s not out of the woods just yet.
During a packed press conference today to reveal more details about additional transportation funding, Gov. Sonny Perdue said he supports giving the transit agency more leeway in how it spends its main funding source.
“We’ve given school systems great flexibility during the economic downturn,” Perdue, who was joined by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker David Ralston, said. “It only makes sense to do the same thing with MARTA. And they’ve promised to be good stewards.”
Should both chambers of the General Assembly pass a regional transportation tax measure that Perdue’s proposed, MARTA would be granted a three-year window to decide how it spends revenues generated by a penny sales tax in Fulton and DeKalb County. Currently, the transit agency can only spend half those revenues on operations and the other half on capital projects. (For more information on the transportation tax proposal, see this previous post and read this piece by Dave Williams.)