OCTC May Try Again for Sales Tax Increase : Staff Report Recommends It if Motorists Want Santa Ana Freeway Widened by the Year 2000

If Orange County motorists want traffic relief on the Santa Ana Freeway in this century, they should help pay for it through a new sales tax, according to a county transportation study released Wednesday.

As a result of the study, Orange County Transportation Commission members have scheduled a vote Monday on whether to seek a sales tax and other new revenue sources, including a special assessment district that would collect fees from businesses that stand to benefit from an improved Santa Ana Freeway.

Monday’s vote will mark the first time since 1984 that local public officials have taken a stand on the transportation sales tax. That year, county voters overwhelmingly defeated a proposed 1-cent levy for highway and transit projects.

Smarting from that defeat, county officials have been reluctant to try again. However, several business and civic groups believe voters may be frustrated enough by traffic jams to approve a smaller, half-cent tax that focuses primarily on the $1-billion widening of Interstate 5, the county’s top transportation priority.

State Would Collect

A sales tax for transportation projects would be added to the state’s 6% sales tax. It would be collected by the state and distributed to the county.

Coincidentally, another OCTC staff report Wednesday disclosed that the widening of I-5 between the Costa Mesa and Garden Grove freeway interchanges, which was already a year behind schedule, has fallen at least another 13 months behind. The report said construction on this segment won’t begin until late 1990.

The staff report blamed a previous schedule that was “too optimistic,” federal officials’ requests for information and additional work on a supplemental environmental study.

Even without such delays, a separate OCTC freeway financing study concluded Wednesday that: “If Orange County desires to see the Santa Ana Freeway widening completed within this century, it will have to help pay for it. Orange County needs to raise local revenues equivalent to $40 million per year for nine to 10 years, beginning 1989.”

Two months ago, OCTC staff members warned that the Santa Ana Freeway project was facing severe cash shortages and would not be completed until 2008 without more funds.

5-Step Financing Plan

The separate freeway financing study released Wednesday by the same staff asked commission members to approve a five-step financing plan that includes “featuring the Santa Ana Freeway widening project as the centerpiece to a countywide revenue measure.”

Other steps would involve:

- Continued, aggressive pursuit of state and federal highway money.

- Use of existing government funds to finance construction while waiting for state and federal reimbursement.

- Use of developer fees to pay for new overpasses and interchanges.

- Use of Orange County Transit District funds for the planned installation of an elevated bus and car-pool transit guideway that is part of the widening plan.

A third OCTC study, prepared by PRC Engineering Inc., showed Wednesday that creatibg a so-called benefit assessment district could generate millions of dollars for the I-5 widening.

Within half a mile of the freeway, according to the study, new development along I-5 will generate $22.5 million in additional revenue from property taxes and other existing levies--revenue that would normally go to cities along the route.

While not opposing new assessments on developers, the study warns that any new developer fees, added to existing levies, “could overburden” business and slow economic growth for cities along the freeway.