Amtrak funding spared; river ports budget cut

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- State subsidies for cross-state Amtrak service will continue but funding for river ports was cut sharply Thursday by state budget negotiators.

The cuts came as lawmakers negotiated differences between the House and Senate versions of next year's budget for the Missouri Department of Transportation.

Much of MoDOT's budget is untouchable by lawmakers, because the agency receives money directly from motor fuel taxes and vehicle and driver's license fees. That money is dedicated to roads and bridges.

But funding for other forms of transportation comes partly from the state's general revenues, which are under scrutiny by budget negotiators looking to save money.

Amtrak received $6.2 million this year to run passenger trains twice daily between St. Louis and Kansas City, stopping at several cities in between.

The Senate had proposed to reduce that to $5 million for the fiscal 2003 budget, which starts July 1. But budget negotiators went with the House version, which appropriates $6 million next year.

Services continue

That level should allow Amtrak services to continue unchanged, said Mel Sundermyer, MoDOT's director of multimodal operations.

A cut of the size the Senate had backed could have forced Amtrak to eliminate one of the two trains or reduce service to three or four days weekly.

"We've got communities along the route that are so dependent on it for their economic life," Rep. Joan Bray, D-St. Louis, said in arguing for Amtrak. "It is a modest investment with a huge economic return."

Some lawmakers made similar arguments to continue the $470,000 the state supplied this year to ports and ferries along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.

But budget conferees decided to cut next year's funding nearly in half to $240,000.

That would allow the continued operation of Mississippi River ferries between Ste. Genevieve and Illinois and between Mississippi County, Mo., and Hickman, Ky.

The funding also would supply $40,000 for a Mississippi River port development in northeast Missouri as part of an agreement with neighboring states and $30,000 for a Missouri River port at St. Joseph.

The remaining $20,000 could be divided among the state's dozen or so other port authorities.

"Some of them will continue to function, some will have to go into a holding pattern," Sundermyer said.

All of Missouri's operating ports are busy and wanting to expand, said Marvin Proffer of St. Louis, a lobbyist for the Missouri Port Authority, an association of the various ports.

The message from lawmakers is clear, he said.

"Funding is tight and ports aren't a priority," Proffer said. "They should be a valuable part of our economic development in this state."

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Transportation funding bill is HB1104 (Green).

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Missouri Legislature: http://www.moga.state.mo.us