Initiative to Seek Gas Tax Money for Transit

Hoping to foster better bus and train service in Ventura County, a local agency has agreed to pay $70,000 to place an initiative on the June ballot that would allow gas tax money to be spent on mass transit projects.

Funding for the initiative was granted by the Clean Air Fund Committee at the urging of Supervisor John K. Flynn. The committee dispenses about $400,000 a year from pollution fees for projects that help improve air quality.

Before the measure can be placed on the ballot, it must be approved by the Board of Supervisors.

“I can’t imagine any reason why the board wouldn’t approve this,” Flynn said. “This could bring millions of dollars into the county.”

If approved, the initiative would allow the county access to its share of $100 million a year in special gas tax money. The money is set aside each year by the state for mass transit projects in the 31 counties that have voted to take advantage of the fund.

In the 1992-93 fiscal year, the county could have received $1.2 million--enough to pay for construction of a Metrolink station.

The public vote is necessary because Californians in 1974 approved Proposition 5, a constitutional amendment allowing individual counties to dip into gas tax money for mass transit projects provided they win the approval of county voters.