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6/29/2009
Nelson and Bernard Schaber couldn't get it done
Much that was unbelievable, reckless and irresponsible showed up in the Conference Committee’s version of the state budget. One more document, completely negotiated in secret by the state’s Dem legislators.
I wrote Friday about the sudden surprise appearance of Card check – very controversial nationally, but in Wisconsin, it can just be written in the budget bill at the last second with absolutely no daylight, much less public debate. Unbelievable and reckless.
As unbelievable was the sudden disappearance (p. 113) of authorization for a Fox Valley Regional Transit Authority (RTA). RTA’s for Chippewa Valley, Chequamegon Bay (Chequamegon Bay needs a RTA? No way), Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee (KRM) and Dane Counties survived. But gone was the RTA for the Fox Valley (FV). Unbelievable.
Appleton Mayor Tim Hanna was steaming Friday. Steaming. He and Rep. Al Ott (R- Forest Junction) and the East Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission and countless representatives of FV municipalities have worked on a Fox Cities RTA for years. I’ve written about it several times, (for example, January, 2007; May, 2009) supporting the responsible replacement of federal dollars with a regional approach.
Hanna says Fox Valley Democratic legislators need to be held accountable for the critical omission. And why Dems? You’ve been reading about this tragic, reckless budget for long enough to know that it was 100% crafted by Democrats – the Governor, of course, then majorities in the Senate and Assembly – and all behind closed doors. All of it. 100% all of it.
Ok. Here’s the problem. The budget Transit Authority language calls for referendums in all three counties - Winnebago, Calumet and Outagamie. As Hanna said, “what is that garbage?” County referendums have never been called for in deliberations about a FV RTA – because these are primarily rural counties - 2/3 of the counties aren’t served, don’t ever want to be served by a transit system. And now they’re supposed to vote for a RTA? Just won’t happen.
In the Fox Valley RTA, thoroughly vetted in extensive East Central sessions and in Rep. Ott’s legislative study committee last summer, agreement to participate in a RTA would be municipality by municipality with opt-in, binding referendums.>
After all this confabbing and study, still, a FV RTA wasn’t included in the Governor’s budget. It wasn’t included in the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) version.
So Hanna, Rep. Ott and Rep. Bernard Schaber conferenced via phone the day Assembly Democrats were “negotiating” the JFC bill – and Hanna thought he communicated pretty succinctly the importance of the municipal opt-in language. But no – it was the “county” language that came out of the Assembly. Hanna of course objected and was told (again) the language would be corrected. This time it would have to come via the Conference Committee, again, behind closed doors by legislative Democrats (and still again, no opportunity for public input, much less knowledge of what was going on).
Disappointment is an understatement in describing Hanna’s reaction to the Conference Committee. He felt “misled by Penny [Rep. Bernard Schaber] who said they didn’t have time to “fix it so they would fix it in the Conference Committee.” “Why wasn’t Rep. Nelson pushing for this? Sen. Miller can get his RTA for Dane Co. to include roads. Why can’t Rep. Nelson get a Fox Cities RTA done? And he’s in leadership? Sen. Jauch [D- Chequamegon Bay] gets his RTA in and ours gets left out? What is going on?”
Some understandable cynicism displayed by Hanna. “Maybe we didn’t have anything to trade. Instead ours [the FV RTA] was well thought out… we worked to build consensus, trying to do it the right way and we’re the ones that get left out.”
I’ll say it again. In more ways than 13 billion, this is a really reckless budget.
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
I guess we'll just have to start planning for "doing without". If it can't be budgeted, then we don't need it.
I know many here disagree and desperately WANT an RTA, but you deserve the government you elect. So here we are - our elected officials don't see the need, therefore we don't need it and should accept the circumstances as they are.
Jeff Riedl (Mon Jun 29 08:16:59 2009)
Jeff:
I don't agree that we just need to "accept things the way they are". Yes we will be tied to this budget because the Governor is certainly not going to stop this madness since he precipitated most of it. We will have to accept this budget but we will not have to accept the actions of our representatives.
An important election will be coming up in 2010 for both the Governor position, all of the Assembly, and half of the Senate. This is our opportunity, as taxpayers, to send a message and not just "accept" what goes on in Madison.
Hopefully all of us do not have short memories.
Mike
Mike Thomas (Mon Jun 29 09:08:35 2009)
Thanks for the "clear" update Jo. I always count on you to be directly to the point. Are you surprised that PBS let us down?
David (Mon Jun 29 09:13:23 2009)
Jo, isn't it true that the powers pushing for the RTA want to fund it with a one-half percent sales tax increase? As much as I would LOVE to see some decent bus service around here--particularly on the north side of Appleton (eg. NORTHLAND AVENUE), we do not want any sales tax increase. It is a slippery slope to continuous upward notches.
JeanMarie (Mon Jun 29 14:35:20 2009)
Absolutely not, JeanMarie. The only way I would support a FV RTA is if any new tax replaced an existing tax, i.e., the property taxes currently being used to subsidize the system. It's my understanding that Mayor Hanna is in complete agreement with that approach. I calculated that it would take a RTA tax of about 0.125%, with a corresponding reduction in property taxes. Hanna has calculated 0.1% - even less. So yes, I believe .5% may be authorized, but would not be used. Another point of importance is that any RTA Board be an elected board - I don't think that element is provided for in the model language.
Jo (Mon Jun 29 14:44:20 2009)
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