About 20 mayors from all over Middle Tennessee are in agreement; they say a regional rapid transit system is a must.
Yesterday, Nashville Mayor Karl Dean hosted the group that will meet every few months in an effort to bring light rail and rapid transit busses to the area.
Mayors from Sumner, Williamson, and other nearby counties say they need to start planning for future population growth.
This year the state legislature agreed to allow the group to create a tax to fund regional transportation. Mayor Dean says raising taxes may be a tough sell now, but ultimately it will be the only way to get a cross-county system built.
“If we put local dollars into it the chances of us getting significant federal funding to help increases dramatically. The federal government is not going to give us the millions and millions of dollars necessary unless we have some skin in the game.”
The mayors did not discuss what type of tax they might propose.
A mayor from a Denver suburb told the group about the successful mayors’ caucus in her area that helped create that region’s light rail system. She also warned the group to make sure whatever tax they use will sustain itself. The Denver area’s $4 billion light rail system is suffering a $2 billion shortfall, due to sales tax revenues dropping during the recession.
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