WASHINGTON — Virginia’s transportation secretary said Tuesday that Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld is ready to release his plans for dedicated funding for the Metro system, and to deal with what Wiedefeld has called the agency’s unsustainable cost model.
Aubrey Layne said Tuesday that Wiedefeld’s plan would be unveiled Tuesday or Wednesday. Metro typically notifies board members and regional government officials before making public announcements. Metro sources said the plan could be released as soon as Wednesday, and is expected by the end of the week.
Meanwhile, a separate review mandated by the Virginia General Assembly, that now has the support of D.C. and Maryland leaders, is measuring the system against other large U.S. transit agencies as part of the first steps to make its own recommendations this fall.
John Porcari, a former Maryland transportation secretary and former U.S. undersecretary of transportation, said Tuesday that the review he is participating in with former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is attempting to measure Metro’s performance and to seek a regional path forward.
Porcari said his group’s recommendations will likely include a look at Metro’s costs and an “honest look” at how Metro is funded that will likely include some form of dedicated funding like a sales tax, property tax or business tax for the agency, since all other large transit agencies across the country have some type of dedicated revenue source.
“This lack of dedicated funding does squeeze state and local budgets, and it makes it hard, quite frankly, on both the capital and the operating side to have long-term capital plans and to have a reliable operating plan year-to-year as well,” Porcari said.
Metro needs that regional support, he said, because it is more than transportation, it is also an economic development strategy. Several Virginia agencies are working to quantify the economic benefits Metro and transit generally provide the region and the state.
In Virginia, Layne said any new funding for Metro would likely include dedicating some existing revenue sources, so that not all of the new money needed would be raised through a new tax.
“This is a fairly significant nut to crack,” Layne said.
He suggested that, for example, a property tax proposal may be a good fit for Virginia while a sales tax might work best for Maryland or D.C.
“This may be our best opportunity in a long time to set Metro on a different path,” Porcari said of the independent review.
The group is working with business and other groups that have offered their own solutions for Metro over the past year, Porcari said.
Layne said that anything like a federal control board would be a bad solution, though — “very risky” — because he cannot be sure where President Donald Trump’s administration stands on transit or infrastructure issues beyond wanting public-private partnership agreements.
The proposals from the independent review will be up to a different administration to implement, because Gov. Terry McAuliffe leaves office in January.
Many significant changes would require changes to the Metro Compact, which authorizes operation of the system. Changes to that document require D.C., Maryland, Virginia and Congress to approve the exact same language. Other changes, such as certain agreements on dedicating funding for the system, could be agreed to without changes to the underlying setup.
“This is going to be a difficult lift,” Layne said.
