High-Speed Rail Questions for the Council

I sent an e-mail (below) to each of the members of the Tulsa City Council regarding the proposed high-speed rail line between Tulsa and Oklahoma City. I'm particularity concerned that Tulsa is going to be asked to help subsidize the yearly operational costs required to operate high-speed passenger service between Tulsa and OKC. It is my humble opinion that we cannot afford any additional strain on our budget. Try and imagine what it would be like if the high-speed train was in service today, and we were in the position to have to help fund it. We can’t even figure out how to put needed cops on the street.

I'm fascinated by the prospect of high-speed passenger service between the two great cities in our state, but if Tulsa is to be asked shoulder some of the operational costs, I fear that I would not be able to support it.

I'll give the Councilors about a week or two to answer my emails, and then I'll post their responses. It will be interesting to see who will respond, who won’t, and obviously what the answers to my questions will be.

Councilor xxxxx,

Recently, I attended a meeting with ODOT officials regarding a
proposed high-speed rail line that would run between Downtown Tulsa
and Downtown Oklahoma City.  The information provided at the meeting
focused on the details of ODOT's application for federal funds, as well as
some of the strategic benefits of having a high-speed passenger line
between our two cities.  High-speed rail sounds like a very exciting
project for the future of Tulsa and for our state as a whole.

During the meeting, ODOT officials outlined the estimated operational
costs associated with the service between the two cities.  Their
estimate was between $21-$22 million a year. It was suggested that
once the proceeds from ticket sales and subsidies from ODOT are
subtracted, the leftover operational costs could be funded jointly by
Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

Would you favor subsidizing the operational costs of the high-speed rail line?

Would this money come from Tulsa’s operational budget which is
funded by the first 2 pennies of sales tax?

Would you favor a new sales tax?

Would you favor some other funding mechanism? Might we require some
help from the state legislature in order to provide us with the tools
necessary to exploit some other untapped funding source?

Could refusal from Tulsa or Oklahoma City to help fund the operational
costs of the proposed high-speed train de-rail the project?

[UPDATE]
Westcott, District 2 response.