SamTrans gets debt pay plan

A $53 million deal between San Mateo, Santa Clara and San Francisco county transit agencies was approved by the Metropolitan Transportation Agency yesterday, possibly ending a 16-year-old debt surrounding the purchase of the rail right-of-way for passenger service on the Peninsula.

The deal would funnel state spillover funds meant for Santa Clara Valley Transportation Agency and San Francisco's Municipal Railway through the MTC and to the San Mateo County Transportation Authority, or SamTrans, over the next 10 years. The plan would end the ongoing debt the northern and southern counties have to San Mateo County for fronting the money to purchase rights to the railway in 1991.

That year, Southern Pacific sold its rights to the railway on the Peninsula because it did not wish to provide passenger service. The state stepped in and helped the three counties purchase the rights for $220 million. The state paid $120 million and SamTrans paid the remainder. It was the only one of the three county agencies with enough money at the time, said SamTrans spokesman Jonah Weinberg.

The three counties formed the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board. San Francisco and Santa Clara made "good faith" agreements to repay the money, but never did, Weinberg said.

"It's 16 years later and we don't have that kind of money anymore," Weinberg said.

SamTrans runs an operational deficit each year and Weinberg doesn't expect the money to make a huge difference because it will come in small increments over a number of years.

It does, however, settle the political differences between the three agencies.

"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 Peninsula on the MTC board, in a prepared statement yesterday. "I'm impressed by the overall willingness of SamTrans, MUNI and VTA to collaborate to avoid another drawn-out disagreement over money; the kind of public battle that benefits no one."

It could take two to four years to identify the source of funding because spillover funds are subject to change with each year's state budget, Weinberg said.

If there is no source identified in that time, the three agencies will go back to the drawing board, Weinberg said.