[SF Bay Area] Tax hike to expand BART narrowly wins

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | November 23, 2008 | Rachel Gordon

[CE2949BB]

Voters narrowly approved a sales tax increase to help fund a BART extension into the South Bay, the latest vote tally shows.

With all but a handful of ballots counted, Santa Clara County's Measure B secured the necessary two-thirds approval needed to win. The count Friday was 66.78 percent in favor, enough for backers to finally claim victory after the proposal had been losing in the days after the Nov. 4 election.

The plan calls for raising the Santa Clara County sales tax by one-eighth of a cent, revenue from which will help to operate and maintain the 16.1-mile extension from the Warm Springs section of Fremont to Milpitas, San Jose and Santa Clara.

The tax won't be collected, however, until the federal government commits an additional $750 million to assist in funding the $6.1 billion project, which will be built by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. If all goes according to plan, officials say service could begin in 2018.

[Quix]

I don’t think so.

Toooooo many dramatic events will transpire before then.

I don’t think it will ever be built.

A major quake, for one, . . . and a number of other traumatic things . . . any one of which will likely scuttle it.

[glorgau]

9 years to build. How sad.

[tubebender]

They have been talking about building it for 40 years and the construction cost continue to exceed funding...

[Carry_Okie]

The tax won't be collected, however, until the federal government commits an additional $750 million to assist in funding the $6.1 billion project, which will be built by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.

Yeah, let's give the worst-run transit district in the nation another $6.1 billion to spend so that nobody can ride even more trains. VTA spends 80% of regional transportation funds for a system that provides 1.1% of the passenger miles.

These folks bought tinted windows for all their LRVs so that the public wouldn't see how empty they are during rush hour.

[AGreatPer]

"The plan calls for raising the Santa Clara County sales tax by one-eighth of a cent,"

How do you collect 1/8th of one cent?

[squirt]

Easy, you round up.

[CounterCounterCulture]

(expletive deleted)

[fifedom]

The vote counting stinks worse than Washington State a few years back and the Minnesota Senate election going on right now. This really p*sses me off. I will now buy even more stuff online to avoid this illegal tax. Where can I buy some gasoline online? ;-)