A critical but little-known board that funds metro-area transit projects will live to see another day.
The Counties Transit Improvement Board (CTIB) levies a quarter-cent tax in Hennepin, Ramsey, Dakota, Anoka and Washington counties to help pay for projects such as Southwest and Bottineau light rail and the Orange Line bus rapid transit line. Since its inception in 2008, CTIB has directed nearly $1 billion to transit projects throughout the Twin Cities.
The board voted last month to dissolve itself, a move that would have permitted the counties to increase the tax to a half-cent, raising more money. Only Ramsey and Hennepin counties were expected to do so.
The deadline for each of the CTIB counties to approve the dissolution was Friday. Dakota County last month voted against it — a move that scuttled the breakup. The county demanded $29 million from CTIB to leave, a figure it says it is due; the board says the amount Dakota County had coming was more like $16.5 million.
Dakota County had opted earlier this year to leave the board by 2019, saying it pays more into the group than it gets in return.
CTIB will continue to levy the quarter-cent tax and collect a $20 fee on new car sales in the metro area.
JANET MOORE
