A shimmer of good news in a sea of bad . . .
We have successfully held off the cut of $11.5 million from the state transit fund and state Amtrak funding was not eliminated!
A huge thank you to everyone who has called, written, or met with their legislators in recent months. We’ve heard that the citizen outreach was critical. Special thanks go out to Rep. Lee Gonzales for standing strong for transit during tough negotiations, despite huge pressure for even greater cuts.
That is the silver lining. There are several big clouds too.
Overall state funding for transit will decrease by around $10 million in the next year anyway because less money is going into the state transportation fund from people buying gas and registering cars. Remember, the gas tax hasn’t been raised in over a decade and we still need to convince the legislature to increase transportation revenue.
The worse news is the enormous cuts happening across the state budget, for schools, environmental protection, health care, seniors, city funds for police and fire, and much more. The legislature continues to try to cut their way to prosperity, a foolhardy prospect at best. Without a change in that attitude, Michissippi, here we come!