One of the biggest issues with commuter rail is that everyone in the state, most of whom will never use or have use of it, will have to pay for it forever. So, y’all should be excited about this bill.
What, I was on Liz Gabert’s show today, and that y’all business sticks for a few hours.
Anyway, the bill is HB1432 which amends RSA 21-L:2, II(a) -Department of Transportation; General Functions to state,
…that no state funds shall be appropriated or expended for the planning, construction, operation, or management of passenger rail projects, including the project named Nashua-Manchester-Concord, project number 40818, in the 2019-2028 Ten Year Transportation Improvement Plan.
The state may not raise funds, allocate existing funds, or use any money taken from Granite Staters to pay for the development, construction, or maintenance of commuter rail in the state.
If the pointless train fetishists want their token choo-choo, they need to get the feds to pay for it. All of it, in perpetuity, and that’s a huge commitment. Some would say unreasonable. But everyone knows commuter rail will never make money, so the 13 million dollars a year question is this.
Why is it reasonable to bilk Granite Staters out of 13 million a year (at a minimum?) to prop up something most of them will never need or use? Because Democrats – with few exceptions – want it.
Commuter rail is the trophy wife of green virtue signaling. It’s a costly habit that makes them look good to other liberals, and that’s been the case for as long as they’ve been pining for it.
Back in 2010, one of my earliest “official” posts on GraniteGrok.com was about rail.
John DiStaso reports in this morning’s Sunday News the details of costs and taxes proposed to prop up commuter-rail in the Nashua-Manchester-Concord Corridor, along with an apology by Transportation Commissioner George Campbell for releasing the report. …
The report lays out recommendations for funding the project by bumping up against the third rail. Higher property taxes, more vehicle registration fee increases, and phrases like, “(the) concept of this business improvement tax was that if they were going to have a benefit, then we could tax them on that benefit,” this from Steve Williams, a former executive director of the Nashua Regional Planning Commission.
What were some ideas to pay for rail service no one would use 12 years ago (this is from an official government report on the boondoggle)?
[A] business improvement assessment” of $1.02 per $1,000, on top of existing local and statewide property taxes, could be levied on all properties in a mile-wide corridor along the track, a half-mile on each side.
They could also choose “…to add a 16 cents per $1,000 property tax surcharge on all properties in 27 communities in the Nashua-Manchester areas.”
Then there’s a vehicle registration fee [which] “has actually been a pretty common approach across the country. You tax what you want people to avoid if you will,” Williams said. He said that with 528,273 vehicles in the 27 communities in the region, a $15.82 charge would be needed to raise $8.3 million.
That was a direct hit on every town and city along “the corridor.” It has since become clear that NH would need to punish everyone to scratch the surface of this turd. HB1432 would prevent that, but I have no idea how it will fare in the Senate or if sometimes republican governor Sununu will sign off on it.
Given the negative press the green agenda is getting thanks to Biden’s energy policy, this might be the year, but as always, with a caveat. Democrats promise to undo this protection the first chance they get, no matter what.
In other words, they are committed to putting Granite Staters on the hook for tens of millions annually for a rail service that touches a sliver of the state. A service most of us would have to drive many miles to get to before (probably) having to pay to park (the traffic and parking situation is another problem), and they pay to ride.
And that’s why it will never make enough money to support itself and why we need HB1432 and why you need to stop electing Democrats to public office.
HB1432 passed the House 181-144. It now moves to the NH Senate.
