Legislature should let DFW solve transportation issues

DFW must raise money locally.

Steve Hawley, Jan 15, 09.

One of the most pressing needs in the Dallas-Forth Worth area is transportation, and the region must press the legislature to allow it to raise funds locally without turning the money over to the state, according to an editorial in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The piece notes that rail can help solve local transportation issues, and that area officials want county-by-county elections so that voters can approve new taxes and fees themselves.

Convincing voters will be difficult, it acknowledges, but the legislature must let local officials try. Lawmakers must also let city and county governments keep locally-raised money, rather than passing the funds on to the state. The opinion is in response to a recent attorney general ruling allowing the state to take those funds.