NACo ties success in welfare reform to mass transit support

Derick Berlage, Montgomery County, Md councilmember told members of the the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee that support for mass transit also means support for welfare reform, the environment and rural mobility."

The committee, which has jurisdiction over the mass transit portion of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA),was holding its first hearing on ISTEA reauthorization for the mass transit portion of the bill. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is responsible for the highway program.

Berlage told the committee "NACo considers the reauthorization of ISTEA to be among its top legislative priorities for 1997." He outlined the three principles guiding NACo policy on reauthorization:

• retention of the existing structure of the transit program,
• continuation of a significant role for county officials in project selection and planning, and
• the need for more funds to be made available for transit.

Berlage reminded the committee members that counties operate transit systems in both urban and rural areas. The current 80-20 match and the direct funding to the counties operating the transit systems have made the program work well. Operating assistance, which has been decreasing in recent years, should either be fully funded or folded into the capital assistance formula program with a new definition of how capital assistance can be spent.

He also pointed out a recent NACo report, Making Welfare Work, which identifies transportation services as the thread that linked all counties and outpaced all other concerns as the most urgent need to make welfare reform work.

In terms of the environment, he mentioned that alternatives to the automobile are needed if the nation is to reduce the adverse effects of pollution.

Mass transit, Berlage stated, also reduces congestion. He cited a new report entitled, Dollars and Sense: The Economic Case for Public Transit in America, which concludes that without mass transit, the country would have an extra five million cars and 27,000 new lane miles of roads, along with nearly 200,000 more fatalities, injuries and accidents every year.

Finally, Berlage pointed out the importance of transit to rural communities that are providing more and more mass transit to their citizens, particularly the elderly and low income. He added, "Transit helps keep citizens in these regions connected and enables them to remain in their communities."

ISTEA is scheduled to expire on Sept. 30. The Banking Committee will be working over the next several months to develop its reauthorization legislation.