Residents to be polled about regional gas tax
Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle September 15, 2011 04:00 AM
Copyright San Francisco Chronicle. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ![]()
With a struggling economy, high and unstable gasoline prices and a cranky electorate, this would not seem the ideal time to propose a Bay Area gas tax of up to 10 cents per gallon. But regional transportation officials, eager to find out for sure, on Wednesday commissioned a nine-county poll to gauge voter support for a gas tax that could be placed on the November 2012 ballot.
"The only way we can really tell what the Bay Area thinks about a gas tax is through public opinion polling," said Randy Rentschler, spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
Since 1997, the commission, the Bay Area's transportation and financing agency, has had the authority to put a regional gas tax measure on the ballot in the nine Bay Area counties. The revenue would be used to rehabilitate streets and roads, stabilize or boost funding for transit agencies, and fund new projects or programs.
But the time has never seemed right. When gas prices were low, 10 cents per gallon seemed like a lot, and now that they're high, everyone's already complaining about the cost of a fill-up. General polls taken by the commission in years past showed insufficient support for a Bay Area gas tax, but no detailed polls were taken to divine what it would take to get a tax passed.
Now commuters are also grumbling about paying higher fares for transit service that keeps shrinking, about the Bay Area's burgeoning crop of potholes, and about the dearth of highway improvements - all the product of steep declines in state and federal transportation funding and local sales tax revenues.
"There is a demonstrateable need for a gas tax," Rentschler said. "The question is: Is there support?"
EMC Research, an Oakland polling company experienced with Bay Area tax measures, will be paid up to $150,000 to survey residents about a potential gas tax, which would require a two-thirds majority (in all counties combined) to pass.
The pollsters' assignment is to not only find out whether a gas tax could pass, but what it would take to get it passed. Pollsters will ask what transportation improvements would garner support, whether consolidation or other changes at transit agencies would make voters more likely to back a gas tax, and what level of tax would be most likely to win approval.
Commissioners, who are mostly elected officials appointed by cities or counties, will be asked to help prepare lists of possible projects in each of the nine counties. They'll also help determine when the poll will be taken - probably early in 2012.
While the polling contract was awarded without opposition, some commissioners said they wanted to wait to take the poll instead of surveying voters in the next couple of months.
"This is a tough sell," said Marin County Supervisor Steve Kinsey. "It's a tough time. I think we know what the outcome would be if we took the poll today.
"The only way we can really tell what the Bay Area thinks about a gas tax is through public opinion polling," said Randy Rentschler, spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
Since 1997, the commission, the Bay Area's transportation and financing agency, has had the authority to put a regional gas tax measure on the ballot in the nine Bay Area counties. The revenue would be used to rehabilitate streets and roads, stabilize or boost funding for transit agencies, and fund new projects or programs.
But the time has never seemed right. When gas prices were low, 10 cents per gallon seemed like a lot, and now that they're high, everyone's already complaining about the cost of a fill-up. General polls taken by the commission in years past showed insufficient support for a Bay Area gas tax, but no detailed polls were taken to divine what it would take to get a tax passed.
Now commuters are also grumbling about paying higher fares for transit service that keeps shrinking, about the Bay Area's burgeoning crop of potholes, and about the dearth of highway improvements - all the product of steep declines in state and federal transportation funding and local sales tax revenues.
"There is a demonstrateable need for a gas tax," Rentschler said. "The question is: Is there support?"
EMC Research, an Oakland polling company experienced with Bay Area tax measures, will be paid up to $150,000 to survey residents about a potential gas tax, which would require a two-thirds majority (in all counties combined) to pass.
The pollsters' assignment is to not only find out whether a gas tax could pass, but what it would take to get it passed. Pollsters will ask what transportation improvements would garner support, whether consolidation or other changes at transit agencies would make voters more likely to back a gas tax, and what level of tax would be most likely to win approval.
Commissioners, who are mostly elected officials appointed by cities or counties, will be asked to help prepare lists of possible projects in each of the nine counties. They'll also help determine when the poll will be taken - probably early in 2012.
While the polling contract was awarded without opposition, some commissioners said they wanted to wait to take the poll instead of surveying voters in the next couple of months.
"This is a tough sell," said Marin County Supervisor Steve Kinsey. "It's a tough time. I think we know what the outcome would be if we took the poll today.
No comments:
Post a Comment