Late yesterday
afternoon, there was a conference call involving the mayors and county
executives from the RTA region. Mayor Barrett was on the call for the first 20
minutes. It was clear that the county executives from Milwaukee and Racine will
not be supporting a sales tax increase of any increment. The Kenosha County
Executive reported that the WISDOT Secretary asked that the RTA, at this point
in time, to withhold action on vehicle registration fees. It was reported that
The Governor's rep to the RTA received a call from the Secretary of
Administration asking that the RTA withhold action on the sales tax. Mayor
Barrett stated that the Counties should opt out of the incremental sales tax
increase and allow the municipalities to use the revenues for public safety or,
if they so choose, getting transit off the property tax levy [ the cities of
Racine and Kenosha operate transit in their respective communities. In Milwaukee
County, the sales tax needed to get transit off the levy equals .15 percent.]
With Racine and Milwaukee county voting no and, quite possibly the governor's
representative, there are not enough votes [this morning] to
get transit off the levy through an increase in the sales tax or to have
the opposing counties opt out. The County Executives opposing a sales tax
increase were asked to develop alternatives. County Executive Walker said
that he and Jeff Stone would continue to pursue a carve out of the existing
sales tax on automobiles.
The alternative
funding proposed for KRM is to increase the car rental
fee.
Patrick T. Curley
Chief of Staff
Office of Mayor Tom Barrett
414-286-3528