Some of southeastern Wisconsin’s key business leaders said today that the creation of a regional transit authority to upgrade Milwaukee County’s bus system and create a Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee (KRM) commuter rail is essential for the economic vitality of the region.
Backed by some of area's most prominent business executives, Gov. Jim Doyle announced today new legislation to create a Southeastern Regional Transit Authority (SERTA).
The plan includes a 0.5 percent sales tax increase in Milwaukee County to provide a dedicated funding source for the county’s financially troubled bus system.
Business leaders said mass transit is needed to help people get to work and is a key amenity to attracting talented workers to southeastern Wisconsin.
“This is not a want, this is an absolute need for the community,” said Tim Sullivan, president and chief executive officer of South Milwaukee-based Bucyrus International Inc. The announcement about the RTA legislation was held at the Bucyrus headquarters.
“It’s critical that this legislation pass during the spring 2010 session,” said Robert Mariano, chairman and CEO of Milwaukee-based Roundy’s Supermarkets Inc. “It is foolish to ignore, this is an economic development issue. Transit builds the economy.”
“For the vitality of southeastern Wisconsin, getting this bill through the legislature is critical,” said Scott VanderSanden, president of AT&T Wisconsin.
“We believe regional transit and the KRM is an important investment in the future of our region,” said J. Fisk Johnson, chairman and CEO of Racine-based S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. “More efficient and more affordable public transit can help make a city an even more attractive place for business and can help the vibrancy of a community. The lack of accessibility to Milwaukee and Chicago is a big reason it is more challenging to attract key people to our company.”
“It’s really frustrating to see the constant deterioration of public transit,” said Ed Zore, CEO of Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. “It’s really important for business to have a good public transit system.”
About 700 of his company’s employees use public transit, Zore said.
Clock is ticking
The supporters of the bill to create the SERTA believe they may be on the clock.
Doyle is not running for re-election in the fall. The state’s budget problems may give a Republican candidate a better chance to win the governor’s race. If either of the Republican candidates for governor, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker or former Congressman Mark Neumann, is elected, they could block RTA legislation. Walker reiterated his opposition to creating an RTA to fund mass transit in the region.
“I believe now is not the time for a tax increase,” Walker told BizTimes Milwaukee. “Considering the economy, the last thing we want is a tax increase right now.”
Walker said concerns about the financial health of the county’s bus system have been exaggerated. He acknowledged that in the long run, financial issues for the bus system must be addressed. However, he said a better option than a tax increase would be to allocate some state sales taxes from the sale of vehicles for mass transit systems. He also said the county should privatize General Mitchell International Airport and use funds from that for the transit system.
Neumann could not be reached for comment about the issue Tuesday.
With the future of the governor’s office up in the air, transit advocates, including several business leaders, are hoping the state legislature approves the new RTA proposal this spring.
Transit advocates are anxious for a solution to the Milwaukee County Transit System’s funding problems.
“The bus system in Milwaukee is desperately in need of immediate help,” Doyle said. “We need to get moving on that.”
Until the problems with Milwaukee County’s bus system are solved, many local and federal government officials are refusing to support the plans for the proposed KRM commuter rail service.
The details
If approved, the new RTA plan calls for a 0.5 percent increase in the sales tax for Milwaukee County to provide funds for the county’s bus system. Existing funding sources, including property taxes, in Racine and Kenosha counties would continue to fund bus services in those counties.
The proposed KRM commuter rail service would be funded by a car rental fee in the three counties of up to $18 per rental.
The car rental fee has already been approved by the state government, but the Milwaukee County sales tax increase has not.
The plan calls for the transit services of the three counties to eventually merge into one RTA.
Other counties also could join the RTA, if they choose to do so.
The transit services in Racine County and Kenosha County have much smaller needs so they want to keep their funding separate for their own bus systems, said Julia Taylor, an RTA board member and president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee. Those counties are more concerned about providing funding for the KRM, she said.
Under the proposal, any new funding sources for the RTA must be approved by voters in a referendum, Doyle said. An advisory referendum was approved in 2008 for a 1 percent Milwaukee County sales tax hike for transportation, parks and ambulance services.
The sales tax increase for Milwaukee County will eliminate the cost of the Milwaukee County Transit System from the property tax base, which will result in property tax relief, Doyle and other supporters said.
“It can’t be paid by the property tax,” Sullivan said. “It has to be paid by sales tax. That would put us in line with virtually every other state.”
Without a dedicated funding source, transit supporters say the Milwaukee County bus system will continue to compete with other services for property tax funds and will be subject to additional service cutbacks and fare increases.
A regional transit plan that addresses the needs of the bus system is necessary to convince federal officials to provide funding for a new commuter rail service, Doyle said.
The state has invested massive amounts of money to improve the region’s roads, including the Marquette Interchange project and the expansion and reconstruction of Interstate 94 between Milwaukee and Illinois, but Doyle said improvements to mass transit are also needed in the region.
“Modern infrastructure needs good roads. We have invested heavily in that,” Doyle said. “But it also needs passenger rail.”
16 Comments
Scott Walker may say that transit problems are exaggerated, sure, but he would need to downplay that Transit is failing on his watch. The Center for Economic Development at UW-M predicts that after the next round of bus cuts (postponed by stimulus money Walker did not want) will leave 100,000 jobs in the metro area inaccessible by transit. Walker is riding the "no new taxes" horse to Madison, even at the expense of new jobs.
In fact he is running against his base on this point - it is the opinion of Milwaukee's major job creaters 'we have no choice' and 'it is essential' to establish the RTA and dedicated funding for our public transportation.
I guess none of these business leaders, who would never use public transportation, don't realize the serfs are having a deep recession and the taxpayers are tapped out. We don't need another unelected taxing entity lording over us without any accountability. As the Wisconsin Center District and MMSD have shown us, these unaccountable taxing entities are ineptly run and never ceasing in their need for more taxpayer money.
It is important to note that the advisory referendum passed during the Obama 2008 election would not pass today. Also, the terms of the referendum that did pass are not what Doyle is trying to cram down on us. And as to Doyle, hasn't he fiscally screwed this state enough already? Please, just go away!
Finally, please explain why I'm suppose to listen to Mr. Zore about transportation issues after he directs NML to build a massive office complex out on the urban edge in Franklin? Why should I listen to Mr. Sullivan whose Bucyrus company headquarters is located one-half block from a proposed KRM station (conflict of interest anyone?). And why would I listen to a suit from ATT about anything? Can you hear me now?
Just to follow up. I don't believe any of the companies run by these business leaders offer retirement and health benefits similar to those being paid to county workers.
Some relief to the funding crisis for transit would be to require transit workers to work until age 65 and provide retirement and health benefits similar to those in the private sector. Until we have comparable government employee pay and benefits with what is provided in the private sector, don't come to the taxpayers crying about budget crises.
BM, show your proof that these bus drivers are overpaid. Saying something doesn't make it true, you need something called facts.
Yes, once again, a clown like B.M.would have us believe that he knows what's best for all us and the region. No. The CEOs of Northwestern Mutual, Roundy's, Bucyrus and the Greater Milwaukee Committee have more credibility than a blog commenter any day. It's great to see these business leaders doing what they can to drive this region into the 21st century, even while some cavemen try to hold us back. Having a mobile workforce is not a luxury. It is an essential economic resource for the region. Keep fighting the good fight!
Why should we listen to these false profits, posing as leaders, when they have created a horrible jobs market by reckless spending that produces only negative results? Improving the bus system and making it more efficient makes sense. Light rail is fiscal insanity. Jim Doyle's legacy for creating jobs is we now have more government workers than we have manufacturing workers. KRM will create government jobs and do nothing to create lasting jobs, add to Wisconsin's debt, increase taxes, lose more corporations and jobs. This is the same track record of those who propose other job making schemes. Repeat, repeat and repeat. Taxation without representation is supposed to be unconstitutional and should be. It is hard to tell what business leaders really mean and what they feel they are coerced into saying. None of these leaders mentioned the KRM. Maybe they all meant the bus system which impacts them the most.
The path to progress in this country is always riddled with naysayers, defenders of the status quo. In this case, they take their narrow-minded, simpleton marching orders from the talk show radio hacks, whom they never, ever question.
Yes Wolters. Let's spend billions on Alchemy. That was forward thinking in the middle ages and you would have been a dutiful lemming then as well as now. Actually the path to progress is blocked obstructionists, like yourself, who can't distinguish a good idea from a bad one, (it's other peoples money anyway and they can afford my stupidity) and then can't recognize you made a horrible mistake because you are already on the next trendy fad.
Thank you. I rest my case!
What is the difference between a naysayer and a realist? Facts and examples.
Fact; we HAVE a train. Fact; it is not utilized. Fact; it is faster that the proposed train. With the connectors it goes to all the same stops AND more.
So; just to be clear. We want to build another expensive train to add to the one we don't use and is losing money hand over fist. So; thank goodness we'll have two expensive trains not being used.
Would one of the name callers like to leave the land of the playground and delve into the reality of what we already have? By all means; please share a fact(s) that demonstrates a second train will be used; at all. Anyone?
Thank you to these business people for being true leaders and driving the mass transit agenda. We need you!
RE: Hagen- Prove me wrong that county transit workers don't get to retire before age 65 (other than employees that begin employment at an advanced age). If they don't, they would be unique among government workers. Also, prove me wrong they don't have retirement and health benefits that exceed those provided for comparable jobs in the private sector. If they don't, they would be unique among government workers. You are the one making claims that are extraordinary - prove them.
As to some of these other supporters of higher taxes and more government waste- it is no wonder where we are here in Wisconsin. Let someone else do your non-thinking. Just keep spending, borrowing and wondering where the jobs went, all because Jim Doyle and some corporate fat cats, for whom any sales tax increase won't put a dent in their pocketbooks, tell you it is good for you.
Someone please tell us how many jobs the KRM will create and connect. Not the government jobs running the boondoggle, but jobs in and between Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee. How much will we spend per job and ride? What are the facts Hansen? Wolters? Sell?
BM, you made the claim, I'm asking you to back it up. I still can't tell if you're too lazy or just plain wrong.
The reason your ideas are brushed aside is because they are reactionary and usually ignorant. Prove otherwise if you want others to listen, otherwise we all see you're just trying to be a fly in the ointment.
RE-Hagen, you are the one calling me ignorant- tell me why. I have not heard of any government employees in a union in Wisconsin not being able to retire before the age of 65. I have not heard of any government employees in a union in Wisocnsin that do not have retirement and health benefits that are better than those typical in the private sector. Are county transit employees required to work until age 65? Are county transit employee benefits less generous than those in the private sector? Is the county having problems filling transit jobs because the pay is too low?
While we are at it, how many daily riders are projected for the KRM line. What is the projected cost per rider? Oh please tell me Mr. Enlightened tax and spender. Instead of calling me names- please inform me. Isn't it only right that the people that want to spend my tax money should at least explain why?
One thing I have noticed with all the arguments from proponents of KRM- there have been no hard numbers on anything. Nada, nothing. Nobody has mentioned the number of riders, the cost per rider, the annual operating costs, projected funding deficits, and the required subsidies. Nada, nothing. Doyle, the business leaders, the likes of Hagen, and the rest of the liberal tax and spenders don't want to discuss numbers because they are indefensible. Or with the likes of the liberal sheep, they don't know, and they don't care what the costs or operating budgets are. Its only taxpayer money and they want a train.
Union county transit employees (a large majority of the system's employees) can retire at age 60. Also, the county still provides a defined benefit retirement plan paid by the county. Something rarely found in the private sector.
So BM, still nothing? I'm asking you for numbers and you can't provide any. Maybe you should consider switching careers to be a speechwriter; you're full of hot air.