UT SAN DIEGO CALIFORNIA DRIVERS
Even if SANDAG nixes plans for such a per-mile fee, San Diego drivers could still be subject to a statewide requirement to pay such charges. The idea is to replace dwindling revenue from the state’s gas tax as people drive electric and more fuel-efficient cars.
The timing was established to piggyback on a long-running effort by the Legislature to establish a statewide program to collect per-mile fees from drivers. The road-user charge would come into effect in 2030, according to SANDAG’s plan. “We do need to adopt our regional plan before the end of the calendar year, and I’m looking forward to doing that at next week’s board meeting.” “We’re in a very formal legal process that needs to be followed,” Gloria said. If the agency failed to adopt the plan by the end of December, it would be in violation of state and federal rules and put itself in jeopardy of losing significant funding. However, Democrats, who firmly control the board, showed no appetite for delaying approval of SANDAG’s regional transportation plan, which is slated for an official vote next Friday. “Although, many of the board members, including myself, have repeatedly, repeatedly said that road-user charges are not OK, that they are not acceptable.” “Wow, I’m shocked by these comments because for two years we’ve been talking about this, and it’s always been, ‘Yes, we love the funding, the funding is perfect,’” said San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones. Republicans on the SANDAG board, who have vehemently opposed such per-mile fees, called on Friday to put the entire plan on hold until a new funding source could be identified. “We heard from the leadership, and we’re going to evaluate (this) in the next few months and next few years.”
“When we put the plan together, we didn’t have a national stimulus, and now we do,” said Hasan Ikhrata, the agency’s executive director. SANDAG’s top officials said they would explore the possibility.
The group pointed to the recently approved $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure spending bill as providing potential funding that could offset the need for road charges. Those officials included Encinitas Mayor Catherine Blakespear, National City Mayor Alejandra Sotelo-Solis and Chula Vista Mayor Mary Salas. It would also move the train tracks off the crumbling Del Mar bluffs by 2035.Īgency officials noted that plans for a massive central transit hub envisioned for Old Town could be built downtown instead.Ī cadre of Democratic leaders - who for months have supported the plan and raised no objections to road charges - joined Gloria on Friday to request the agency look for alternatives to collecting the per-mile fees. border to Oceanside by 2050, as well as constructing a massive network of “managed” freeway lanes that serve buses, carpools and toll-paying customers. SANDAG’s plan calls for, among other things, building a new high-speed transit system from the Mexico-U.S. Right now, I don’t think this particular part of the plan is something that we should be considering.” “To be completely honest,” he added, “I share that concern. Republicans have been objecting to the idea of road charges for months. “We’ve received a resoundingly clear message that a proposed road-user charge in San Diego is unsettling and unsupported,” San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, vice chair of SANDAG’s Board of Directors, said at Friday’s meeting. Regional transportation officials with SANDAG released a final draft of their blueprint this week for the $160-billion plan calling for not only the road charges, but three separate tax hikes by 2028. The San Diego Association of Governments - which has worked for more than two years on an ambitious vision to overhaul how San Diegans get around the county - faced pushback at a public hearing Friday from its 21-member board of elected officials over a plan to impose a per-mile tax on drivers starting in 2030.
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