Cedar Hill City Council backs light rail idea

by Steve Snyder of TODAY Newspapers

The Cedar Hill City Council is officially on board with asking the Texas Legislature to give it and other Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex cities new taxing and development authority to build light rail in the area.

The Regional Transportation Council of the North Central Texas Council of Governments had drafted a proposed resolution for member cities to consider supporting. The RTC resolution calls for the legislature to create a transportation district for the Metroplex with the power to levy taxes and fees to fund commuter rail development. The legislature has twice previously considered, and defeated, other local-option funding mechanisms.

An example of taxes and fees the city might use include a vehicle registration fee of up to $150, a fuel excise tax of up to 10 cents a gallon, a mileage fee of up to 1 cent per vehicle mile, a vehicular property tax, up to 5 cents per $100 of appraised value, a driver's license fee of not more than $50, and a new resident impact fee.

The resolution states that creating a transportation district is not to replace any allocation of funding, or allocation or prioritization of normal transportation projects, by the Texas Department of Transportation.