Days after a politically divisive vote on how Metro should allocate the cash it sends to local governments for road projects, city of Houston and Harris County leaders have hashed out a compromise proposal.

The new agreement comes as the board of the Metropolitan Transit Authority prepares to meet Friday to approve language for a November ballot item asking voters whether to extend these payments, known as the “general mobility” program.

The program, in place formally since 1988, gives a fourth of Metro’s 1 percent sales tax revenues to Houston, Harris County and the 14 small cities in the transit agency’s service area for road, bridge, sidewalk and other such projects.

The Metro board on Aug. 3 approved a ballot proposal that would have shifted tens of millions of dollars more in mobility payments to Houston at the expense of the county and small cities by basing the payments on where sales taxes are collected.

Monday’s tentative deal – reached in a meeting among Houston Mayor Annise Parker, County Commissioner Steve Radack, Metro chairman Gilbert Garcia and Greater Houston Partnership chairman Tony Chase – scrapped that approach, participants said.

The county and cities’ current mobility contracts expire in 2014. Under the new proposal, any increases in sales tax revenues above 2014 levels would be split half-and-half between Metro and its member governments, sources said.

‘Far better deal’

That formula would continue until Metro had collected about $400 million under the arrangement, County Judge Ed Emmett said. Sources differed on whether that was projected to occur in 2024 or 2026.

Radack and Emmett stressed that the proposed deal would require Metro to spend its share of the tax revenue increase on buses, bus shelters and paying down debt, not on light rail lines.

“I’m optimistic that this will be a far better deal for the county and, at the same time, what’s being discussed will be a mechanism for Metro to be able to increase the amount of buses,” Radack said.

‘Back to basics’

Parker said she, too, is glad a compromise could be reached to improve the bus system and keep road funds flowing.

“I have always supported and recognized the transit needs of our growing city,” Parker said. “My goal throughout this process was to make more funding available to Metro for this critical need.”

Garcia, who made it clear when the Metro board voted Aug. 3 that he was not thrilled with that day’s proposal, said Monday’s compromise would facilitate a “back-to-basics” approach for the agency.

“I’m trying to find a solution that I think is a better balance,” Garcia said. “I’m trying to find a way to balance the needs of our member partners but in some way get more resources over time for Metro.”

Advocacy groups that have called for the continuation of or the end of mobility payments said they needed more information about the proposal before commenting on it. However, Citizens Transportation Coalition board member Rebecca Tapick said she hoped the Metro board would follow through on its commitment to transparency in discussing the referendum.

If approved by the Metro board, the new proposal will require a public education campaign on why a “yes” vote is important, Emmett said.

If the measure fails, he noted, the mobility program ends and Metro keeps all the sales tax revenues, likely prompting a fight in the Legislature that he said neither he nor Metro wants.

Working things out

Metro had no motivation to turn other agencies against it, Houston political consultant Keir Murray said, just as Parker had no interest in making new political enemies a year before a reelection bid. County leaders, meanwhile, wanted to be seen as delivering for their constituents.

“You don’t often see Commissioners Court and the city of Houston getting together to work something out,” Murray said. “It speaks to the seriousness of the issue for all parties. We’re talking about a lot of money for all the players here.”

mike.morris@chron.com