Feb. 3, 2015 Tavares, FL
Another fine government fiscal fiasco in Michigan wasting over $12-million in taxpayer funds.
Only government (in Michigan) could be that stupid and wasteful of taxpayer funds.
It seems that Michigan requires 10% of a Transportation fund be spent on commuter rail, so they blew it on the commuter railcar leases when the railroad line was not usable.
"The Michigan Department of Transportation started leasing the cars in 2010 for two commuter rail passenger services proposed between Detroit and Ann Arbor, and Howell and Ann Arbor.
But nearly five years later, none of the cars has logged a single commuter passenger mile. There still is no funding and no operator for either proposed commuter service, required environmental studies are not complete, and in the case of the Detroit-Ann Arbor service, even the tracks won't be ready for another two years."
"The roughly $11.4 million spent as of Dec. 31 was mostly paid from Michigan's $300-million Comprehensive Transportation Fund, which is largely raised from fuel taxes and vehicle registration fees and is mainly used to pay for transit and rail.
Under state law, at least 10% of appropriations from the fund must be allocated for intercity passenger services, which includes rail projects. Michael Frezell, a spokesman for MDOT, said the project money came from that allocation and could not have been spent on roads, though it could have been spent on other eligible projects such as a bus service between two Michigan cities or another rail-related project."
http://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2015/01/31/mdot-costly-idle-rail-passenger-cars/22655363/
Conclusion:
So, here in Florida, will this same method of waste be applied to funds for Amendment 1 - to spend about $700-million per year on water and environmental projects?
vj
