Thinking Big When Funding Is Local

Abstract

Insufficient federal transportation funds have forced counties and cities to propose local taxes to fund new transportation, meaning poor coordination across jurisdictions. This article examines similar taxes conducted multi-jurisdictionally as a potential solution. This study uses archival evidence, legal statutes, and interviews to understand how a seven-county Bay Area proposal was put together, and how this process compared with what is known about local option tax processes. It concludes that this multi-jurisdictional funding measure shared a similar process to single-county ones, but lacked blanket authorization for a regional agency to place the proposal on the ballot, which made the process overly dependent on a single well-connected politician to put it together. This makes it hard to propose a regional process with great frequency, and gives the politician great influence over the projects selected. The study concludes with recommendations to facilitate institutionalization and greater use of multi-jurisdictional funding mechanisms.