Transit
funding plan was doomed,
Barrett team says.
Barret
backs sales
tax for transit, commuter rail.
Council,
in rebuke to Barrett, rejects KRM-only funding
Feb.
12, 2007 -- In a direct rebuke to Mayor Tom Barrett,,
the Common Council voted, 11-4, to oppose a $13 increase
in the rental car tax to fund Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee
commuter rail line because the tax would not fund local
transit.
Aldermen
said Barrett lobbied heavily for a delay in the vote.
Ald. Michael D'Amato accused the mayor of "trying
to reach into the body and make policy for us."
Under
the $13 tax increase for the KRM endorsed by the Regional
Transit Authority, "we're deriving 10% of the benefit
and paying 90% of the cost," D'Amato said. Only about
500 residents per day would use the KRM service, he said.
Aldermen
said they would lose their chance to affect the transit
funding discussion if they did not take a position at
their meeting last week.
Some
were clearly upset that city Director of Administration
Sharon Robinson, the mayor's representative on the Regional
Transit Authority, told a council committee should would
not vote for an RTA-only funding plan, but then did just
that.
The
resolution adopted by the council supports the KRM, but
"does not support the implementation of a dedicated
funding source that funds the local share of capital and
operating costs of the KRM service unless that dedicated
funding source also provides funding for the local share
of capital and operating costs related to the operation
of the local public transit service."
Two
aldermen, Ald. Robert Donovan and Ald. Willie Wade, started
out in favor of sending the resolution back to committee,
but changed their minds during the meeting. The two ended
up co-sponsoring the measure. Other co-sponsors were Aldermen
Robert Bauman, D'Amato, Michael Murphy, Willie Hines,
Jr., James Witkowiak, Michael McGee Jr., Joe Davis, and
Ashanti Hamilton.
Donovan
said he had pledged to support the mayor, but had changed
his mind because "it's high time this council provides
the leadership this city has been lacking."
Wade
switched after McGee warned that aldermen seeking to delay
approval of the resolution would be seen as "water
carriers" for the mayor.
"I
would definitely not send this back to committee if I
was not a water carrier," McGee said.
Donovan, Wade, change their minds.
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Murphy,
who represents Story Hill on the council, said he viewed
the transit funding issue as one of property tax relief.
The Milwaukee County Transit System is heavily reliant
on property taxes, he said.
"The
majority of property taxpayers would like to see an alternative
funding source," he said.
Hines, who is Common Council president, said funding for
KRM and transit needed to be linked so "all moves
forward at once."
The
four aldermen who voted to send the measure back to committee
-- Jim Bohl, Joe Dudzik, Robert Puente, and T. Anthony
Zielinski -- did not speak during the meeting.
Transit
funding plan was doomed, Barrett team says
Feb.
1, 2007 -- As aldermen and county supervisors
angrily denounced the Barrett administration's vote in
favor of a tax increase for a commuter rail system but
not local transit, Barrett's top aide said there was no
choice: a transit funding plan would not have passed.
"If
you think the aldermen are frustrated, we're frustrated,
too," Barrett Chief-of-Staff Patrick Curley said.
Barrett's
director of administration, Sharon Robinson cast the vote
in favor of a $13 rental fee increase to fund the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee
commuter rail system during Tuesday's meeting of
the Regional
Transit Authority.
Robinson
worked hard for a compromise resolution that keeps the
local transit funding issue alive, Curley said. The RTA
has agreed to take up the topic later.
Robinson
last week told the Common Council's Steering and Rules
Committee that Barrett supported a 0.3% sales tax increase
to fund both the KRM and local transit.
Robinson
told aldermen after the RTA meeting that it quickly became
apparent that a sales tax increase would not be approved.
Even the governor's appointee to the board opposed a sales
tax increase, she said.
Here
is the text of the resolution adopted last week by the
RTA:
The
SEW RTA recommends to the Governor and Legislature that
the local share of the capital and operating costs of
the KRM commuter rail extension be funded by an increase
in the existing car rental fee from $2 to $15 applicable
within the counties of Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee;
and
That
the RTA reaffirms its commitment to public transit and
that it will continue to discuss of the overall needs
of transit and the potential to expand transit service
in the RTA counties, and seek alternative funding sources
for transit as its second major initiative.
"I
argued that I felt that KRM is important to economic development,
but that it was also my hope that the members of the Board
would also recommend state enabling legislation to allow
jurisdictions ...that own and operate bus transit systems
to enact a local option sales tax to finance the local
...share of those systems in order to eliminate current
property tax funding," she wrote to the aldermen.
"However, the vast majority of members raised strong
objections including the Governor's appointee."
Aldermen,
however, accused Robinson of breaking her promise not
to vote in favor of funding source for KRM that ignored
local transit needs.
Ald.
Robert Bauman said he was "particularly disappointed"
in Robinson's vote because she assured the Common Council's
Steering and Rules Committee last week that she would
not vote in favor of a KRM-only funding plan.
“It’s
a sad day for all Milwaukee transit system users when
our city’s lone representative on the RTA votes
to leave them out in the cold,” Bauman said.
Council President Willie Hines said: “We trusted
that the Mayor would have first concerned himself about
the need to transport residents within the City of Milwaukee,
and the desire to preserve transportation for his residents
should have been his first and highest priority."
"They
don't have a clear policy on transportation at all,"
Ald. Michael Murphy said of the Barrett team. "As
a result, you get mixed signals depending on the story
of the day, which is pretty frustrating."
County
Supervisors Lee Holloway, Michael Mayo, and James White
issued a joint statement criticizing the votes of Robinson
and county Public Works Director George Torres, who represents
County Executive Scott Walker on the RTA.
“We’re
disappointed the Regional Transit Authority is ignoring
the needs of low-income and minority residents in our
community," they said. "The Milwaukee County
Transit System provides an extensive route network that
is easily accessible to County residents from all walks
of life. The decision to ignore the needs of a transit
infrastructure that’s already in place, while recommending
a $13 increase on each car rental to support commuter
rail, is preposterous."
Robinson,
in her e-mail, said she argued against an RTA-only funding
plan.
"There
were strong statements in the room about the train wreck
we will face if we do not address public transit and that
KRM will be nothing without moving ahead on a comprehensive
plan and securing funding for public transit (that provides
property tax relief as well)," she wrote.
"I
expressed disappointment with the way things have evolved
on the RTA Board overall," Robins said. "However,
based on the debate and side conversations that evolved
prior to the final vote, I strongly believe that my colleagues
on the RTA Board, as the motion states, will make public
transit and securing funding a high priority."
Curley said Barrett would pursue the funding issue.
"Transit
is important to not only folks who live in the city and
use transit -- it's important to employers," he said.
"We're going to have to have a conversation with
the Governor and WisDOT about transit in southeastern
Wisconsin."
Barrett
backs sales tax increase for transit, commuter rail SEWRPC envisions disaster for county
transit system if current trends don't change
Jan.
29, 2007 -- Mayor Tom Barrett supports a .3%
sales tax increase to support commuter rail and mass transit,
according to Department of Administration Director Sharon
Robinson.
"That
is our position," she told the Common Council's Steering
and Rules Committee.
Barrett
supports a .05% sales tax increase for the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee
commuter rail system and a .25% increase for mass transit,
she said.
"That's
where we left it," she said.
The Regional Transit Authority, of which she is a member,
has until November 2008 to submit recommendations. At
least three people on the RTA oppose a sales tax increase,
which would kill the idea, she said.
Ken
Yunker, deputy director of the Southeastern Wisconsin
Regional Planning Commission, said a .25% sales tax in
Milwaukee County would replace the existing property tax
contribution, with a bit more to fund transit improvements.
If funding doesn't change, the Milwaukee County Transit
System will face huge cuts in the coming years, he said.
"Our
projections indicate that that transit system -- the cuts
that we've seen in recent years are going to be small
compared to what will happen by the year 2010," he
said. "You're probably facing almost a 35% to 40%
cut in the transit service."
Those cuts would include eliminating all freeway flyer
and U-Bus service and a cutting third of local routes,
Yunker said.
"It's
nothing that's painless," he said.
"We
don't have much time to consider alternatives, to discuss
options," he said.
SEWRPC's
scenarios envision continued state funding increases below
inflation rates, additional fare increases, and continued
diversion of federal funds from the intended capital purchases
to operating costs to hold off further service cuts.
The
committee unanimously recommended adoption of a resolution,
sponsored by Aldermen Robert Bauman and Michael D'Amato,
supporting the KRM only upon implementation of funding
sources for both the KRM and local transit service.
