Independent review of OC Go funding ensures funds are used as promised to voters
ORANGE – The Orange County Transportation Authority’s Taxpayer Oversight Committee will hold its 31st annual public hearing on Tuesday, June 14 to ensure that Measure M, the county’s half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements, also called OC Go, is being delivered as promised to Orange County voters.
This year’s public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. June 14 at Orange County Transportation Authority headquarters, 550 S. Main St. in Orange. The hearing is open to the public.
The independent, 11-member oversight committee was formed to monitor OCTA’s use of the local sales tax funding, approve all changes to the investment plan and hold annual public hearings on the expenditure of funds. The half-cent tax for transportation was first approved by voters in 1990 and renewed in 2006.
Measure M will continue funding balanced and sustainable transportation improvements through 2041 with revenues expected to exceed $13 billion. The voter-approved funding plan allocates 43 percent to freeways, 32 percent to streets and roads, 25 percent to transit and includes two environmental programs.
More than $4 billion worth of transportation improvements were made possible with the first approval of Measure M. Since 1990, hundreds of local projects have been completed that help residents travel throughout the county every day. This includes improvements to freeways and streets, synchronized signals and improved intersections. Measure M also made possible Metrolink commuter-rail service in Orange County, which the measure continues to fund.
The program is committed to relieving congestion, maintaining infrastructure, supporting rail and community transit options, synchronizing signals across jurisdictions, reducing costs for senior and persons with disabilities, preserving and restoring habitat in perpetuity, and reducing transportation-related pollution in Orange County.
Those unable to attend the public meeting can submit comments by visiting www.octa.net/PublicHearing.
For more information about the Taxpayer Oversight Committee, visit www.octa.net/TOC.
