[rbt]

That would just allow even more political influence in capital (read expansion) spending. Subsidize the operational costs and let the commission decide how and where to spend expansion dollars.

Sure, that works for me too though I doubt it would take the politics out of it.

Ford managed to fillibuster expansion for 18 months on something he was not funding and didn't have legal authority over. Somethign that was very clear-cut (from a power perspective) got very messy.