A boom in the local car-buying market and an early payment from Washington for highway work has removed the threat of a transportation tax increase in Maryland during the coming legislative session. And yet the long-range outlook remains gloomy: A few years from now, more revenue may be needed for operating mass-transit systems, building roads and expanding the port and airport.
It was no accident that during the recent campaign for governor, both Parris Glendening and Ellen Sauerbrey left open the question of raising transportation taxes. The department's trust fund can't keep up with the demand for projects to ease travel in Maryland. High on the list of future priorities are a vital inter-county connecting road in the Washington suburbs, a bypass around Salisbury, a widening of the Baltimore beltway, more harbor dredging, the airport expansion and an enhanced commuter-rail system.
These developments would cost billions of dollars. And yet Maryland's revenues are not increasing fast enough to pay for them. The gasoline tax is a flat-rate levy that isn't inflation-sensitive. Even worse, ridership on the Baltimore bus and Metro systems are declining and the state's assumption of bus-ridership costs in the Washington suburbs is growing by leaps and bounds.
Mr. Glendening, always the policy wonk, says he wants to study the latest revenue figures from the Maryland Department of Transportation before announcing his intentions. He suspects that the new uptick in car sales and other indicators might make it possible for the state to avoid a new transportation tax until after the 1998 election.
But for that to happen, the new governor must revamp the current six-year transportation program that contains millions in local pork and politically popular projects. The list must be trimmed to cover only the essential transport proposals. Additionally, new and creative ways to cut costs must be found. Some ideas: Privatize parts of the Baltimore and Washington bus systems, get union approval for use of part-time drivers, use smaller buses on the least popular routes, build some new highways as toll roads.
Another option would be to raise transportation user fees across the board to buttress the trust fund. That might help stave off a more unpopular gas-tax hike for a few more years.
The governor-elect is a realist about this state's transportation dilemma. A first-rate network of roads, trains, planes and ships is critical to his goal of boosting economic development. But at the same time, the public is demanding efficiency and common sense in government spending practices. Melding those two goals will be Mr. Glendening's challenge. What he should not do is perpetuate the status quo.