$53 million to Samtrans

A proposal has moved forward to have a state transportation agency overseeing the Bay Area reimburse the San Mateo County Transit District $53 million for its 1991 purchase of the tracks used by Caltrain.

"A lot of people worked very hard on this proposal to repay a 16-year-old debt to SamTrans," said San Mateo County Supervisor Adrienne Tissier, who represents the county on the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Bay Area's transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency.

In 1991, SamTrans agreed to buy Southern Pacific Railroad tracks from San Jose to San Francisco, allowing them to be used by Caltrain. In doing so, SamTrans picked up the tab for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.

Tissier credited the three agencies willingness to collaborate and "avoid another drawn-out disagreement over money...the kind of public battle that benefits no one," she said. "This type of regional vision that helped craft this proposal is crucial," she added.

The MTC board this week approved the $53 million to be drawn from the state's spillover fund of revenues from the gasoline sales tax, and paid to SamTrans over the next several years, according to MTC spokesman Randy Rentschler.

Though the proposal still needs the approval of the Muni and VTA boards, tentative agreements are in place, SamTrans spokesman Jonah Weinberg said.

Weinberg said he hoped the MTC funds would be disbursed in the next two to four years.

While Rentschler agreed there is "a very good chance" the money could be received on that time line, he added that the proposal is not without risk, because of the indeterminacy of gas tax revenues and the complexities of how the state decides to allocate them.