The mayors of West U, Bellaire and Southside Place are urging residents to make an informed choice about the extension of the METRO General Mobility Program on Election Day.
All three city councils have unanimously approved resolutions supporting continued funding of the GMP, which will expire on Sept. 30, 2014.
“In the past the payments we have received through this program have been very important to our area’s efforts to maintain and improve our roads and associated amenities. This is a very important issue. We urge our citizens to study the facts and make an informed choice on Election Day,” West U Mayor Bob Fry, Bellaire Mayor Phil Nauert and Southside Place Mayor Pat Patterson said.
All three cities receive a direct benefit from the METRO GMP.
If the referendum is not passed, the cities will have to make up the difference by either cutting expenditures on projects, raising fees or raising taxes to pay for construction and maintenance projects.
There is no tax increase associated with passing the referendum. The referendum is a question to voters regarding how METRO should use the funds it receives from sales taxes, some of which are generated in West U, Bellaire and Southside Place.
Cities are allowed by law to use GMP funds for city construction and maintenance projects including streets and drainage improvements, bridges and grade separations, traffic-control signals, sidewalks and streetlights.
For more information, visit http://www.ridemetro.org/AboutUs/Referendum/Default.html.
The confluence of greed, ideology, and parocial perspective is usually damaging to the public welfare, and so it is here. The lure of free money was irresistable to a certain class of politician and those who curry their favor. Robert Riquelmy suggests a NO vote on the Metro proposal.