Some of us in the big square States apparently do not understand the need to subsidize every aspect of life in the nation’s Capitol. Every few years, some of us push back against the massive taxpayer subsidies for Washington, D.C. National leaders always come through for D.C., though, explaining to the rest of us how parochial we are.
The latest controversy is over a congressional committee recommendation to cut some funding for the Washington subway system. It would not cut the whole federal operating subsidy, just one-half of the federal fourth of the “new capital construction” portion of the Metro’s budget (the other three fourths are paid by DC, Maryland, and Virginia). The proposed reduction in the federal share for new train cars, tracks, and stations would lower federal spending by $75 million. “Our” fourth is supposed to be $150 million a year for ten years, under a deal made in 2008, before the current Congress was elected.
To hear the reaction of D.C. politicians, you would think the reduction would kill the entire subway system – or worse. Several of them cosigned a letter saying the drastic cut would “only exacerbate the operations and safety issues.” One Member called it “a betrayal of trust,” and another said it would “jeopardize rider safety.” All hyperbole, but if you wonder how the locals in D.C. really feel about their subsidies, Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) summed it up this way: “It also is a failure to recognize that Metro is the nation’s transit system. How does Washington, D.C., the capital of the free world, run without a significant, sustained investment in Metro?”
There you have it. This is not the Washington, D.C. transit system; it is the nation’s. Yours and mine. Just like Pennsylvania Avenue is “the nation’s Main Street” (that’s why it is maintained by federal tax dollars, unlike all the other home town Main Streets).
If the Metro belongs to all of us, I wonder why nobody is paying all of us to ride it. We now pay an extra $240 a month to DC-area federal employees to offset their Metro fares. That amounted to a $2,880 annual pay raise last year. Thousands of people all over the country commute to work every day, too, but the nation’s taxpayers did not spend billions building all of them a subway, nor paying the fares for all of them – only federal employees in the DC area.
This doesn’t end at the Metro turnstile. In 2010 (the last year complete numbers are available), America’s taxpayers spent $768 million on D.C. projects such as a $35 million Tuition Assistance Grant program, new charter schools ($62 million), homeless shelters ($19 million); a local sewer project ($20 million), $100,000 for a health clinic, and $50,000 for upgrades at a local hospital. These annual subsidies tell only a fraction of the real story, especially considering the tens of billions spent to build the city itself – and it is not built with cheap materials. What Colorado city can afford to eschew concrete, building its sidewalks of brick and its curbs of granite? Where else are daily commuter roads maintained by the National Park Service, or traffic enforcement provided by U.S. Capitol Police? Washington is a beautiful city with parks, open spaces, fountains, plazas, circles, and magnificent architectural masterpieces – all built by the entire nation’s taxpayers.
The DC Metro system is one of the poorest managed in the world, as yet another recent audit revealed. Its total revenues for 2013 were $900 Million, while its expenses topped $2.3 Billion. Passenger fares contribute barely a third of its revenue. Metro’s reports say subsidies contribute another 31 percent and most of the rest is what it euphemistically calls “capital contributions.” That comes from taxpayers in DC, Virginia, Maryland, and good old Uncle Sam. That is the portion the House Appropriations Committee wants to reduce. The Committee had the further temerity to suggest that even those limited funds would require Metro compliance with audit recommendations for better fiscal management.
The Metro’s board is also examining ways to reduce its budget. One suggestion under consideration is the elimination of Friday and Saturday service between midnight and 3 a.m. That is no typo – we subsidize train service from midnight to 3 am, too.
In the end, Congress will save the day and restore the funding (We’ve seen this movie before). Maybe someday we’ll all understand why we have to finance the daily commuting of D.C. residents. But how about if we pay to run the trains from 9-5 and let them finance their own happy hours?
(A version of this column appeared in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel May 15, 2015)
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