• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Doyle Keeps Hiawatha Rolling; He Also Favors Tax for Metra Extension

Posted on: Saturday, 23 July 2005, 15:00 CDT

Gov. Jim Doyle will boost funding for Amtrak's Milwaukee-to- Chicago Hiawatha line, where service was endangered by a budget dispute between Wisconsin and Illinois, Doyle's office announced Friday.

At the same time, Doyle said he would sign a budget provision to create a three-county Regional Transit Authority that will levy a $2 rental car tax to help extend Chicago's Metra commuter trains from Kenosha to Racine and Milwaukee. Legislators added that provision to Doyle's 2005-'07 budget, which also appropriates $800,000 to help pay for final engineering on the 33-mile rail line.

Together, Doyle's actions keep two different passenger rail lines on track in southeastern Wisconsin: the existing Amtrak service, targeted primarily at travelers seeking a quick trip between Milwaukee and Chicago, and the proposed commuter rail service, aimed at linking the two big cities with the medium-sized Wisconsin communities and suburbs along the Lake Michigan shore.

For the Hiawatha, the issue focused on a long-standing deal for Illinois to pay 25% of the costs not covered by federal dollars or fares, while Wisconsin paid the remaining 75%. For the 2004-'05 and 2005-'06 fiscal years, Illinois froze its contribution at the 2003- '04 dollar level. Wisconsin covered the difference in 2004-'05 and Doyle had sought another $3.3 million to continue that pattern over the next two years.

But lawmakers balked and said this state should pressure Illinois. They approved only a slight increase in Amtrak funding and locked part of that money in a separate account, to be released only by a vote of the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee. Amtrak supporters said that would result in service cuts or fare increases if Illinois didn't come up with more cash.

Doyle vetoed the part of the appropriation in the separate account, in effect trimming Amtrak funding, state budget chief Dave Schmiedicke said. But at the same time, the governor ordered the state Department of Transportation to find the money needed to keep the Hiawatha running in its current form.

State Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greenfield), architect of the Legislature's transportation budget, called Doyle's action "foolhardy" and "a waste of money." Stone said he was working with a key Illinois senator to boost the Illinois share.

Schmiedicke said the governor's action still left the door open for talks with Illinois, but Doyle wanted to ensure that the trains kept running.

The Hiawatha has posted record ridership for seven straight months, and transportation officials say it's likely to pass the half-million mark for the first time this year.

Separately, the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission has recommended the Metra extension, which could cost $152 million to build and $18.6 million a year to run, offset partly by $3.2 million a year in fares. From Kenosha, that line would stop in the Town of Somers, Racine, the Town of Caledonia, Oak Creek, South Milwaukee, Cudahy and downtown Milwaukee, running seven round trips each weekday and three a day on weekends.

A $4 million preliminary engineering process is just getting under way, funded mostly by the federal government but with $400,000 from the state and an equal amount split between the cities and counties of Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha. The $800,000 state appropriation would keep the same 80% federal, 10% state and 10% local split for final engineering. And the rental car tax could raise enough money to cover the local share of final engineering.

But funding aside, one of the biggest questions clouding the commuter rail line's future has been who would run it. The project could have been doomed if the Legislature had not created the Regional Transit Authority, because federal authorities otherwise wouldn't have thought Wisconsin was serious, said Stone and Julia Taylor, president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee.

As approved by the Legislature, the Regional Transit Authority would be run by a seven-member board, with one member each appointed by the governor, the three county executives and the three mayors. Six votes would be needed to spend the rental car tax dollars. Schmiedicke would not say whether Doyle would sign the Regional Transit Authority provisions as written, but indicated that any changes would likely be minor.

Community leaders along the route hailed the action.

"If it's done right and funded correctly, it's going to give Caledonia more of an economic base and will really showcase our community," Caledonia Town Chairman Jonathan Delagrave said of the line.

Racine Mayor Gary Becker, who has strongly supported the commuter rail project, said it will help his city, which has suffered from chronic unemployment for years.

Racine County Executive Bill McReynolds also touted the line's role in bringing workers to jobs, while Taylor said the arts would benefit as well. In Kenosha, Mayor John M. Antaramian said commuter rail is critical to the region, calling it "a long-term need."

Milwaukee County Supervisors James White and Michael Mayo have complained that the Regional Transit Authority wouldn't do enough for public buses. But Taylor said it was important to start with a focus that has regional cooperation.

If authorities can agree on a funding plan, the commuter rail line could start service by 2011, just as work steps up on reconstruction of I-94 between the airport and the state line.

Larry Sandler reported from Milwaukee, and Sheila Lalwani reported from Racine.

Copyright 2005, 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.)

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

More News in this Category