[Sosfbay-discuss] VTA owes SamTrans $38.7 million for MUNI subway station

[JamBoi]

http://www.examiner.com/a-726691~Proposition_1B_transit_funds_may_be_near.html

Proposition 1B transit funds may be near
May 14, 2007 3:00 AM (11 days ago)
by Edward Carpenter, The Examiner

Tentative agreement could free monies for subway

SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - A nearly $9 million bill
to Muni for Caltrain’s right-of-way through San
Francisco appears on the verge of coming due.

A tentative agreement has been reached between Muni
and SamTrans (the Peninsula’s bus operator and owner
of the Caltrain right of way) that could settle the
long-outstanding debt and allow Muni to receive $100
million from state Proposition 1B funds for the
construction of its proposed Central Subway.

The agreement was partially brokered by the
Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which holds
the purse strings on local transit infrastructure
funds.

“[Muni and SamTrans] are partners in operating
Caltrain, and this is an area that has stressed the
partnership and we’d like to see it resolved,” MTC
spokesman Randy Rentschler said.
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Muni, which said the deal hasn’t been finalized,
declined to comment.

Muni’s $1.2 billion subway from South of Market to
Chinatown is tentatively scheduled to begin operation
in 2016. Another $1 billion in federal funds has
already been identified for the project, according to
Muni chief Nathaniel Ford.

For SamTrans, the $9.2 million couldn’t come at a
better time. Budget estimates released this week show
the Peninsula bus operator facing a $10.5 million
budget gap, according to SamTrans board members and
San Mateo County Supervisor Jerry Hill.

“It certainly will help in the short-term with the
budget imbalance, but it is a short-term measure,”
Hill said.

SamTrans has been forced to dip into reserves and
scramble for one-time funds in recent years as
expenses increasingly outstrip revenues, SamTrans
spokesman Jonah Weinberg said.

SamTrans purchased the Caltrain right of way from San
Francisco to San Jose in December 1991 for a little
more than $200 million using $124 million in state
funds, $43.7 of its own money and $47.9 borrowed on
the part of Muni and the Valley Transit Authority.

Muni and the VTA were expected to repay SamTrans at an
unspecified point in the future, Weinberg said.

“This is a longstanding debt that SamTrans had been
able to shoulder in the past, but we’re getting to the
point of 15 years and SamTrans really needs the money
now,” Weinberg said.

Santa Clara’s Valley Transit still owes SamTrans $38.7
million for the purchase, Weinberg said. Discussions
between SamTrans and VTA are ongoing, officials said.

ecarpenter at examiner.com

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