E.J. Pipkin Tries To Push Purple Line Cost Onto Counties

Maryland's leading Republican senator is urging lawmakers to saddle Maryland's Washington suburbs with the billion-dollar cost of the region's planned Purple Line rail, while letting rural counties off the hook.

"[This bill] comes out of the frustration of representing a rural area and watching highway user revenues draw down to the point where we can't repair our roads," said Senate Minority Whip E.J. Pipkin, of the Eastern Shore. "And yet we're watching news conferences where the governor says we're moving forward with the Red Line and Purple Line."

Gov. Martin O'Malley has cut state funding for local roads and bridges -- called highway user revenues -- by more than 95 percent in the last three years, and his fiscal 2012 budget includes additional cuts.

The planned 16-mile Purple Line, a light rail connecting New Carrollton to Bethesda, would cost the state roughly $1.6 billion. A $1.8 billion high-speed rail -- the "Red Line" -- is planned for Baltimore.

Pipkin's legislation would create an independent taxing authority to collect revenues for the rails from Montgomery, Prince George's and Baltimore counties, as well as Baltimore City.

"If they want it, let them pay for it," Pipkin told the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, which is considering his bill.

The state is planning to use roughly $32 million in fiscal 2012 transportation dollars slated for local roads to help fund the planning stages of the light rail systems in fiscal 2012.

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