Sales tax proposal for train line revamped
By LARRY SANDLER
[email protected]Posted: Jan. 7, 2007
With a key vote approaching Tuesday on a regional transportation sales tax, public transit advocates are trying to rally support by packaging the idea as a way to cut property taxes and to shift the cost of a new commuter rail line to tourists.
Part of that approach could include reducing the proposed sales tax from 0.5% to 0.25% - 25 cents on a $100 purchase - to pay for the new train line linking Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha and the southern suburbs, and to take public buses off the property tax, Racine Mayor Gary Becker said.
The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority is to consider asking the Legislature to authorize a three-county sales tax for trains and buses Tuesday. Other funding options likely will be considered as well, said Lori Richards, a spokeswoman for the authority.
Much of the authority's focus has been on the commuter rail line, called the KRM Commuter Link, which is strongly backed by business leaders as a way to spur development and connect workers to jobs. The rail line would cost $237 million to build and $14.7 million a year to operate. But supporters say state and federal aid and fares would cover 80% of capital costs and 90% of operating costs.
Last month, the authority signaled preliminary support for a two-level sales tax of up to 0.5%. One-tenth of that amount, 0.05%, would raise the $8 million-a-year local share of operating costs and debt service on bonds issued to pay for construction. Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties each could ask for more, up to 0.45%, to move public bus systems off the property tax.
But Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and several suburban Republican state legislators quickly declared their opposition to any new taxes. And Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said he didn't oppose the 0.05% for trains, but feared the additional 0.45% for buses would foreclose his goal of a broader local sales tax that would cover parks and public safety, as well as transit.
That posed a problem for the transit authority. By law, the seven-member body needs six votes to do anything. Walker and Barrett each have one appointee on the authority, as do their Racine and Kenosha counterparts and Gov. Jim Doyle. No plan can advance if more than one member oppose it.
Scaling back proposal
Becker is hoping to win consensus by cutting the tax in half. At 0.25%, he says, the sales tax would raise $40 million, which is still enough money to pay for the train line and take the Milwaukee County, Racine and Kenosha transit systems off the property tax.
Furthermore, Becker says, visitors are expected to pay about 22% of the sales tax, or $8.8 million - more than enough to pay for the train line. Therefore, he argues, the train line wouldn't cost local taxpayers anything, and the additional sales taxes paid by local residents would replace the property taxes they're paying now.
That analysis does not include state funding, which also comes partly from local taxpayers. Consultants say the state would have to budget more for public transportation if the train line is set up.
Support for sales tax
Milwaukee County Board Chairman Lee Holloway and Supervisor James White, chairman of the board's Transportation, Public Works and Transit Committee, agreed the sales tax could help cut property taxes by replacing levy funding for the Milwaukee County Transit System.
In a written statement, they called on George Torres, county director of transportation and public works, to join them in backing the sales tax.
But Torres, who is Walker's appointee to the transit authority, said he was under orders to oppose any new taxes.
Torres said the transit authority needs either to find revenue from non-tax sources or try to shift existing government revenue from other programs to transit.
Milwaukee Aldermen Bob Bauman and Mike D'Amato also backed the idea of a sales tax that would fund public buses as well as commuter trains. They said the train line alone would not benefit the city enough to justify a sales tax, while funding is needed to support the current transit system and possibly expand it.
Transit authority members are trying to move quickly to influence the 2007-'09 state budget that Doyle will present to the Legislature in a few weeks, and to apply for federal funding this summer.
Those deadlines reflect a desire to start service on the rail line by 2010, providing an option for commuters when work shifts into high gear on rebuilding I-94 between Milwaukee and the Illinois state line.
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