Saturday, December 23, 2006
Regional transit authority wants to soak taxpayers some more
Is it a sign of the times, but how stupid to politicians think citizens are? This new transit authority, dubbed Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority, wants to increase sales taxes in Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee counties one half of a percent to fund a commuter train from downtown Milwaukee, to Racine and ending in Kenosha and a new bus system. There possibly could be a stop in the village of St. Francis or South Milwaukee, and to fund a regional bus system. In return, the Milwaukee County Transit System, the Racine City Bus System and the Kenosha City Bus System would become part of this regional authority and its funding would be through this sales tax. This is a horrible idea.
First, do we need train service from downtown Milwaukee to Kenosha? One could argue yes, but for the people in Western Milwaukee County, say Wauwatosa or Hales Corners, the train wouldn't make it out there. You'd have to drive a half-hour to get to the train station. They could make it sooner than by train if they kept going in their car.
This procedes into the next point, by making light rail spurs into the Milwaukee suburbs. This would cost a lot more than the .1 percent they are talking about right now. Pretty soon, we'll have empty light rail trains going around Milwaukee County--while the taxpayers keep paying.
The next argument will be this is a simple extension of the Metra rail that stops in Kenosha. Sure, but it doesn't connect. Once you get off the SE Wisconsin train, you'll have to wait around the Kenosha for the Metra train as they won't be coordinated. If you've taken a good look at Kenosha's train station it is a joke and very unsafe at night. I can attest to this as a Kenosha resident--it is scary at night.
So if the task of the train is to make it easier on people to travel from Milwaukee to Chicago, or Racine to Chicago, or Kenosha to Chicago, we already have the transportation set up by rail. It is called Amtrak.
- From Milwaukee, you can take a train via Amtrak with three stops to Chicago. You can take the train from downtown Milwaukee or General Mitchell Field. It will have two or three stops, depending on place of departure. From downtown, the entire trip is 1:30, and 1:19 from the airport.
- From Racine, you can take an Amtrak train with two stops to Chicago. The train station is in a suburb of Sturtevant. The total time is 1:06.
- From Kenosha, you can take an Metra commuter train and it take 1:40. There are at most 19 stops in between and it is the longest time of the three.
Commuter rail along the shores of Lake Michigan wouldn't make sense time-wise.
And let's not forget about the buses...
This is where it just gets stupid. The plan calls for the consolidation of the buses in the three counties into a regional transportation system. It would be paid for by the .45 percent increase in the sales tax. The counties, or cities, would "cut the tax" from property tax bills.
There are two glaring issues with this plan. First is the tax shifting. You know damn well that the Milwaukee County Board and the Racine and Kenosha City Council's will not cut the property tax. They will fill the void with something else. Property taxes will not go down with this plan. Tax-shifting is not the same as tax cutting. In the end, taxes will go up. These boards will find other things to do with their tax control. Maybe like portraits of elected officials at the Courthouse?
Secondly, the consolidation means that residents of the rural areas of Racine and Kenosha counties would be paying for a bus system that doesn't reach them. In fact, most buses within these cities don't even cover their cities adequately. The Racine City Bus doesn't go out to Union Grove, Burlington, Waterford or any of the outlying areas. The Kenosha City Bus doesn't cover anything west of I-94. These taxpayers haven't had to pay for a bus system because there would be no need for service out there. Under this plan, they would pay for service that they won't ever get or need.
Three area Legislators, Robin Vos (R-Caledonia), Samathan Kerkman (R-Genoa City), and Scott Gunderson (R-Waterford) have all come out against this plan. Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker as well. Even UW Critic Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) chimed in on the controversy.
Walker had this to say:
"I oppose an increase in the sales tax to fund the KRM for the same reasons I have opposed raising the sales tax to fund parks, transit, and to theoretically provide property tax relief.”
“First, it will give Milwaukee County the highest sales tax in the state; thus creating a tax island. Second, the state government still has to approve an increase in the sales tax. Since the Governor and the State Legislature are opposed to new taxes, support for a new tax is unlikely.Third, we cannot continue to dig into the pockets of taxpayers every time a new proposal comes along. We must instead be better stewards of our tax dollars."
Vos had this to say:
“Increasing taxes to fund mass transit is just not an option,” said Vos. “Racine County is already taxed to death and citizens shouldn’t have to dip in their wallets again.”
...
“I am not opposed to commuter rail service, but I think people who never ride the system shouldn’t be forced to pay for it,” said Vos.
Kerkman echoed Vos and Walker:
Regardless of whether the tax increase is .0375% or .05%, I oppose the idea completely. The residents of Racine and Kenosha counties are already taxed in excess and I don’t believe that it is in the best interest of the State of Wisconsin to do so. We already have senior citizens leaving the state because of the tax burden of Wisconsin. We should be lowering the sales tax burden instead of increasing it.
Nass, who isn't even going to be effected by the project, criticized it as well.
“The November Election results weren’t about authorizing new and higher taxes in this state. However, many local and state officials seem Hell-bent on wasteful new mass transportation spending financed by bleeding Wisconsin families of more money,” Nass said.
The new proposal needs approval from both the Legislature and Governor Jim Doyle. The State Assembly will be controlled by Republicans during the next session.
“Let me be clear, there should not be one Republican legislator in favor of any tax increase. I will oppose any proposal or budget that contains a tax increase. There will be no acceptable excuse for Republicans compromising with Senate Democrats on raising taxes,” Nass said.
Nass makes a good point on the likelihood of a Republican crossing over and supporting this. All it takes is four Republicans to cross over for any bill. I can already think of a few that would cross over a support a stupid thing like this. Southeast Wisconsin should be on watch for their tax dollars. Hopefully common sense will prevail.
Labels: KRM, SE Wisconsin
