Quote Originally Posted by Hutch View Post
One-cent would be great, but it's not a necessity based on current studies. Dallas is funded with one-cent, and we're nowhere near the size of Dallas. Salt Lake City funds their entire system on a little more than one-half cent. And it's extremely unlikely that we'd ever be able to to pass a one-cent permanent transit tax on top of a one-cent MAPS tax. Further, as OKC has no dedicated transit tax to fund Embark and the Streetcar, those operations are paid for out of the city's general fund. The COTPA budget is already stretched just trying to pay for the limited bus service and new streetcar system. MAPS may be able to pay for new transit projects, like streetcar extensions, but covering the operational costs of those new services will be difficult. That's why we're at the point of needing the RTA and a dedicated funding source.
Dallas also doesn't have that great of a transit system either. A one cent dedicated sales tax would fund a great transit system in OKC.