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5/4/2009
Desperate legislators making after-midnight political deals
Ok, he’s not close to what would be the Fox Cities Regional Transit Authority, but geez, being only a few miles north, you’d think Rep. Dave Hansen would understand the problems of both Valley Transit and Green Bay City Transit possibly suffering significantly reduced federal operating assistance following the 2010 census (because the cities will have been deemed too large, according to current guidelines, to receive fed funds for transit).
Scott Bauer’s Saturday AP article related that
Hansen, who voted against the plan even though his district includes the Fox Cities, said in a statement Friday there is still time for a solution because the decrease in federal funding won't hit until at least 2011 or 2012. Reassuring Dave. Really reassuring. That wimpy excuse of yours doesn’t come close to flying. Our communities need a funding solution now. Now Dave. Now. It oozes of arm-twisting by fellow Democrats on the JFC. Stating the all-too-obvious, Appleton’s Mayor Tim Hanna "accused the committee of reaching a deal to appease Milwaukee at the detriment of the Fox Cities. 'It’s called politics. Absolutely pure politics… It has nothing to do with policy and what’s right for the state.'”
I support the creation of a Regional Transit Authority for the Fox Cities with several critical stipulations.
- IF RTA boards are elected (unlike Tech boards, which are beholding to no taxpayer)
- IF RTAs include funding specifically only for transit systems (not roads), and
- IF comparable property tax dollars are removed from municipal budgets in exchange for a RTA tax.
(Concerning that last point, the fiscal bureau’s April 30 policy paper indicates the tax necessary to replace current property tax dollars supporting Valley Transit would be 1/8%. That’s it. 1/8%. I’m not saying 1/8% is no big deal, I’m saying if an eventual RTA board institutes a tax greater than 1/8%, they will be taxing us too much.)
Ok. All this said about the politics. All of this really messy stuff stems from huge wars over billions of transit dollars in SE Wisconsin. Patrick McIlheran hits several nails on their heads, describing the deal making for the creation of not one, but TWO huge new transit systems.
First, a KRM (Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee):
So the Kenosha-to-Milwaukee trains, at $250 million just to build, will supposedly be funded by a rental car tax [$16!]. Everyone knows this is nonsense. The train's backers point out that the feds, expected to pick up much of the construction cost, won't do so if the local money is coming from something as ephemeral as a rental car tax. To gin up the local part of the $25 per ride subsidy, we'll need a sales tax, say backers. They're right. And then a second transit system and a second new tax for the other transit authority lawmakers created, to fund Milwaukee County's buses. This from a Journal Sentinel editorial.
The Milwaukee County regional transit authority - separate from the KRM body - would cover the same ground as the current Milwaukee County Transit System but would have authority to raise the county sales tax to cover transit, emergency services, parks and cultural programs. Why is that necessary? Why not simply allow the county to levy the tax for such programs, as voters approved in a November referendum? And why send 15% of the money to the city of Milwaukee, which does not even run a transit system? A countywide tax should pay for county services. As the Journal Sentinel says, JFC made a mess of it and the full Legislature should clean it up.
The compromise that the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee reached in the wee hours Friday morning has all the earmarks of public policy created by desperate legislators making after-midnight political deals. And it's likely to be just as conducive to the public good as that sounds.
…. So Joint Finance came up with a convoluted political compromise Friday that stumbles forward but could end up falling flat on its face. The full Legislature and the governor should rectify that and return to the original proposal. I’m waiting for Representative Tom Nelson (Majority Leader Nelson) to use his pull to create the statutory language necessary for a Fox Cities Regional Transit Authority right here in his backyard. I’m waiting for your legenday camp-out-in-the-chambers sit-in Tom; sign me up to cater the PB&J’s.
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
Taxation "with" representation, please! NWTC and the Tech system in General, in Private, and in Sergeant, are taxing authorities with little to no opposition. They carry one fiscally conservative member for PR purpose, but their record of unimpeded increases is without peer.
Folks, it's not about taxation, it's solely about representation, or the lack thereof. We must put astop to the creation of taxing authorities without candidate to candidate elections, not the at-large fiascoes we enjoy via the school boards.
Richard Parins (Mon May 04 19:18:58 2009)
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