Posted on 09/28/2007 12:02:08 AM PDT by CedarDave
Gov. Bill Richardson said Thursday he would not support a tax increase to pay for the Rail Runner commuter train.
The governor, who has been out of state campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, overruled one of his Cabinet secretaries in Santa Fe in the process.
"Governor Richardson is not interested in a tax increase," spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said in a written statement released Thursday evening. "The Railrunner expansion will move forward as planned, and the governor expects to consider different options, other than a tax increase, for its operations in the future."
Under a proposal revealed one day before by state Transportation Secretary Rhonda Faught, voters in Bernalillo, Santa Fe, Sandoval and Valencia counties could have been asked to approve a $25 million gross receipts tax increase next year to pay for Rail Runner operating costs. ... The tax increase would have amounted to 12.5 cents on every $100 of purchases.
Gallegos said it was premature for Faught to propose the regional transit district— and the gross receipts tax increase— when no options have been presented to the governor for consideration.
"It's my fault, not anyone else's," Faught said Thursday. "Obviously, the governor is not for increasing taxes right now."
~~ snip ~~
The regional transit tax would have helped pay for the train at a time when New Mexico is struggling to close what some say is a half billion-dollar gap in funding for its highway system. Critics of the Rail Runner project fear operating costs will eat into money better used on road construction and maintenance.
The train now runs between Belen and Bernalillo. Operating costs are projected to rise to $20 million a year when service is extended to Santa Fe.
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
An early morning PING! for your NM list.
Usually a cabinet officer who gets crosswise with the governor is gone. However, she's too good a trooper for the RR for him to fire her. But no doubt she's going to clear future statements with his office first.
“It’s my fault, not anyone else’s,” Faught said Thursday. “Obviously, the governor is not for increasing taxes right now”
...she made a safe assumption of her boss, a tax and spend liberal. He’ll raise them. As soon as he’s won the ‘08 nomination as VP with Hitlary.
PING! This came up on the web site just before I hit the hay. I’m more convinced than ever that his taking it off the table is because the voters will shut down the whole operation if they have a chance. Maybe a letter to the editor of the Journal is needed from someone in the area saying the governor is afraid to let the voters have a say in spending their money on a public welfare project that benefits very few and recovers only 7-9% of operating expenses at the fare box.
If you want on or off the NM Ping list, please FReepmail me.
William is doing damage control right now. Apparently his staffers didn’t get the memo that they were supposed to HIDE the tax increase to fund the rail so to protect William’s image.
A tax will still be upon us. It just will be hidden in something.
When will NM voters have had enough? Dumb question...doesn’t matter as long as the dems are counting the votes and providing the ballots in miniscule numbers to Heather Wilson’s precincts, right?
One thing that I do have hopes for though...King Bill is showing the nation what an absolute CLOWN he is ;)
One of the most gratifying thing about having him on the national scene right now is watching him make an ass of himself.
Just makes me feel good all over.
I agree with you totally. He’ll change his mind and everyone will pay once the presidential nomination is decided.
I don’t know what “other options” he plans to explore to pay for this damn mess he got all of us in NM into. There are no other options.
But do you think they’ll even print it? I firmly believe they run that stuff past his buddies before they print it.
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