Regional Transit Control Backed; Area Officials Now Hope to Get a Plan into the State Budget

By LARRY SANDLER

Eight of the region’s top elected officials agreed Monday to work together to try to create a regional transit authority that could take over public bus systems and run commuter trains in a four- county area.

Now they’re racing to agree on details quickly enough to add the plan to the 2007-’09 state budget being shaped by a legislative conference committee.

At stake are the future of the cash-strapped Milwaukee County Transit System, facing a possible eighth straight year of route cuts and fare increases, as well as the fate of a plan to link Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha with commuter trains. Both could suffer if left to languish until lawmakers take up the 2009-’11 state budget.

The Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine and Kenosha mayors and county executives met for 1 1/2 hours to discuss the issues in a rare closed-door summit meeting called by Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker.

Walker, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and other officials present said the session in Walker’s office led to a consensus that public transit should be handled on a regional basis, most likely by a transit authority. They also agreed to meet again, perhaps next week, to continue the talks. They plan to invite business leaders from the seven-county economic development effort known as the Milwaukee 7.

“Most people are in agreement that it (a regional transit authority) is a good idea, at least in theory,” Waukesha Mayor Larry Nelson said.

That leaves all of the toughest details to be worked out, including how to fund transit services. Also to be determined is whether the new authority would be built upon the foundation of the current Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority, a fledgling body planning the KRM Commuter Link rail line, or whether an entirely new agency would replace the current RTA.

“It’s a very delicate challenge to try to get to answers for such a broad group,” said state Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale), who attended the meeting. “I’m just cautiously optimistic we can get to something that works for the region.”

RTA Chairman Karl Ostby, who also was at the meeting, said he was encouraged to see Walker and Barrett working together. In the past, the two have sniped at each other over how to spend $91.5 million in long-idle federal transit aid. Barrett wants to use the money for a downtown streetcar loop and two express bus routes, while Walker insists it should be used for express buses alone.

Their new cooperation follows a previously unannounced Aug. 8 meeting with philanthropist Michael Cudahy and Tim Sheehy, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. A month earlier, Cudahy had flown Walker, Barrett and Sheehy to view light rail and streetcar systems in Denver and Portland, Ore., trying to broker a deal on the federal cash.

Instead, Walker and Barrett agreed to set the transit aid issue aside for now, to focus on building consensus for the regional transit authority, they and Cudahy said.

“Bringing that into this debate kind of needlessly bogs it down,” Walker said.

Still ahead, however, are such major issues as:

Milwaukee County buses: The county bus system’s 2008 budget request calls for slashing routes by 13% and raising fares to $2, the highest of any major U.S. transit system. Paratransit vans for the elderly and disabled also would face significant service cuts and fare increases, if Walker and supervisors agree.

Unlike most of its counterparts, the bus system competes with other county agencies for property tax dollars, a competition that has been intensified by Walker’s vow to hold the line on property taxes. County officials have cut service, raised fares or both for the past seven years. Regional planners have warned that a 35% service cut could be coming by 2010 without new state or local funding.

Commuter trains: Business leaders and south suburban officials have been pushing hard for the $200 million KRM train line, which they believe would spur development by linking workers to jobs.

That has brought a backlash from the Milwaukee County Board and the Milwaukee Common Council, demanding that KRM funding be packaged with aid for county buses.

Funding: Although most officials agree transit should be weaned from the property tax, they don’t agree on how to do it. Some, such as Kenosha County Executive Allan Kehl, want a regional sales tax. Barrett says any new sales tax revenue should be shared with municipal police and fire departments. Walker wants some of the state’s vehicle sales tax revenue earmarked for transit. And Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas thinks money can be found by chopping transit workers’ health benefits.

Such debates killed a previous attempt to fund both the KRM line and local buses with a new sales tax, leading the RTA to ask the Legislature instead to authorize a $13 increase in the rental car tax for trains alone. The rental car tax increase is now in the hands of the Legislature’s conference committee, and planners say failure to agree on local funding could jeopardize a KRM bid for crucial federal aid.

Governance: In the early 1990s, a move to create an RTA foundered in part over concerns about how representation would be balanced between the city and suburbs. On the current RTA, the governor and the Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha mayors and county executives each appoint one member – but every action requires the consent of six of those seven members. The requirement for near-unanimity has frustrated some RTA members.

In addition to Walker, Barrett, Vrakas, Nelson and Kehl, chief executives at Monday’s meeting were Racine County Executive Bill McReynolds, Racine Mayor Gary Becker and Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian. Among others present were Ostby, Stone and Waukesha Ald. Joe Pieper.

REGIONAL TRANSIT

What’s on the table

— Whether to form a four-county regional transit authority to run public buses and proposed commuter trains.

— How to pay for it.

— How to run it.

What’s off the table

— Tying the new authority to debate over whether to spend $91.5 million in federal transit aid on streetcars or express buses.

Copyright 2007, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved. (Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media.)

(c) 2007 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.