Details are still trickling in, but it turns out that the wait and last minute push by myself and countless others in Milwaukee and Southeastern Wisconsin paid off.
Overnight, the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee voted to create a commuter rail authority in Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties funded through a rental car fee.
They also voted to allow Milwaukee County to impose a 1% sales tax that would allow the County to remove transit, parks, cultural programs and emergency medical services from the property tax levy.
As you may recall, I was heavily involved the group that was behind the passage of the referendum last November, the Quality of Life Alliance, so this is really just mind blowing news. To have worked on something so big and with so many moving parts and six months later have it bear fruit… it’s an amazing feeling.
Even more amazing is knowing that finally, Milwaukee County and all of Southeastern Wisconsin can start playing catch up with the rest of the Country when it comes to our mass transit system and how we fund our parks and cultural programs.
More soon I’m sure, but I wanted to get something out there early this morning.
Great work by all those involved. We made a very hard push last night with several State Senators who were on the fence, and who’s support in making this happen was crucial. Everyone deserves a huge round of applause.
I live in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Milwaukee, WI with my wife Jen, our daughter Emerson, and sons Carter and Colton.
!!!
It’s not every day that the first bit of local news you hear in the morning is something so significant and profoundly good.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Thanks for helping to improve my “quality of life” Dan. Tell us 90% who will never ride your train how you just improved our quality of life, and give yourself another pat on the back for me.
Even those who don’t “ride the train” benefit from efficient and well developed mass transit in a region because it eases congestion, creates jobs and spurs economic development. Even you and your allies who staunchly oppose mass transit benefit, so you’re welcome.
And as Jason correctly points out, there are also other issues that contribute to the “quality of life” in an area.
Bony, do you like in Milwaukee County?
Ever enjoyed a park or rode the bus?
Ever had to call an ambulance?
Don’t you think *your* quality of life would be effected if the parks went to hell, you couldn’t get to work when your car broke down, and you couldn’t get emergency services?
That’s what Dan, myself, and many others worked very hard to get passed. You’re welcome.
Obviously this is a big victory for the Alliance. Congrats Dan. But is it a big victory for the future of transit in the Milwaukee metropolitan area?
My concern is: Will this actually lead to any transit improvements? It isn’t like the county’s record on this stuff is exactly stellar. Just stuffing a bunch of money into more buses for example isn’t going to improve the system enough to have a lasting impact on the county. And money isn’t even required to go to transit–it could all be spent on parks and emergency services theoretically.
Obviously this is better than nothing, but was nothing the alternative or could a regional RTA have gotten through without this amended plan? Transit is a regional problem requiring regional solutions, not just a county problem. What good is a rail line to Waukesha County if it ends at the county line? It isn’t going to get my wife to her job at Kohl’s HQ. And putting this in the hands of Milwaukee’s dysfunctional county board (not to mention Scott Walker) doesn’t exactly have me encouraged.
Actually, I’m not sure I fully understand the governing structure this sets up. There will still be an RTA but it will be entirely funded by the County? Will the RTA manage parks? Or will the County collect the dollars and then decide some amount can go to transit and give that amount to the RTA? Who will decide that amount?
Wait, another tax increase for Milwaukee/Wisconsin?!?!?! SHOCKER! Another 132 million dollars being sucked out of the private sector just so it can be “re-allocated” by some government bureaucrats…..I’d like to say I’m amazed that our government officials think raising taxes in this economy is a good idea, but I’m not.
I live in Milwaukee county, have for 80% of my life (Wisconsin for 98%), and this incessant need/desire to take more money out of my pocket just drives me crazy. Do our “representatives” not know that we are already in the top 5 most taxed states in the Union?!?!? We have companies leaving this state on a consistent basis and not a lot of new ones knocking on our door. Why is that?!?!? One big reason is TAXES. Think your individual taxes are high, check out what companies that do business in this state have to deal with (not to mention moronic municipal ideas like mandatory sick time in the city of MKE).
The increase in mass transit (KRM, light rail, and high speed rail) is (and always will be) a cost albatross that, if implemented, will take more an more money out of the private sector with a return that will be minimal at best. The thought or belief that trains, etc spur economic development is not only misguided, it’s just plain wrong. The thought or belief that Wisconsin and specifically SE Wisconsin needs expanded mass transit, when we have (for the top 50 cities in the US) one of the fastest commute times is irresponsible and wasteful. Now here’s the worst part; admittedly mass transit ridership is up, but the costs associated with maintaining the routes, workers, trains etc create such a burden that every city is raising fares and cutting back on routes. The reason for that is simple: it costs too damn much to have these systems in place. The cost the rider pays on a bus and/or train pays for 25% (or less) than the ACTUAL cost to run that piece of machinery. The rest of the cost is picked up by the taxpayer. This massive subsidy is causing havoc all over the country when it comes to maintaining buses, trains, trolley’s, etc. A perfect example is in St. Louis where they have had to cut 25% of their mass transit workforce (even with an 8%increase in ridership), just to meet their budget. Since our state and local communities are already having budget issues, the last thing we need to do is burden them with another white elephant.
Mark my words, if the KRM route, high speed rail to Madison, or any light rail proposals actually get approved and put into action, (10 or less years from now) not only will our economy not be any better off than it is now, our taxes will be higher, and the %age of people utilizing mass transit in this state will not be significantly more than it is now. When that does happen, I will be sure to mention “I told you so.”
Im sure glad that there are people like you that want to forcibly take our money and decide whats best for us and what increases our “quality of life.” Tell me again how Tom Barretts bus on fixed tracks is a good idea when busses share the same streets? I happen to think a good quality of life comes from an area that encourages business to prosper. Is it any wonder that businesses are flocking to states that have a less burdensome tax, litigation, and regulation climate. Milwaukee is not New York or Chicago, it is not hard drive a car or take a buss to work. Do you really feel that if we had light rail in Milwaukee businesses would flock here because finally we can get people to take a bus to your train, get off the train, and take another buss to their job. Jason, Im so glad that now well finally be able to get ambulance service, is that what your trying to sell me?
@sean: as we established in the run up to November, the 1% sales tax would take the parks/recreation/transit/EMS/etc off the property tax levy, thereby lowering property taxes. It’s not a tax increase. As for the argument that businesses are flying out of here because of “taxes!”, I’d simply point to cities like Chicago or the East Coast where business thrives, or to companies like Miller Coors who have moved to those areas, despite their “HIGH TAXES!!!”.
There was nothing “forcible” about any of this bonyt, either through the passage of a sales tax referendum in this county, or the elected officials who put the will of the people of Milwaukee County into action. I’d like to have a reasonable discussion about this with you, but you’ve never expressed interest in anything remotely related to reasonable debate, so I’ll stop wasting my time now.
It’s still the wrong way to be funding this stuff. The real problem was the elected officials not funding things in a manner many or most of the people wanted. The correct solution was to elect some different people to run things, not set funding based on a fixed percentage of the economy rather than what is needed to properly provide those services.
Bruno, a sales tax is a much more equitable way to fund services like this compared to a property tax. Plus, it’s a funding source that’s indexed to inflation, something a property tax can’t be.
I am happy that KRM will become a reality but funding it through rental car fees is really not the best source of revenue. A sales tax would have been better.
Thank you Dan for your efforts with 1% sales tax. I can’t believe its a reality. This is the most progress I have seen in my 11 years in Milwaukee. :)
“the 1% sales tax would take the parks/recreation/transit/EMS/etc off the property tax levy, thereby lowering property taxes.” Dan, who are you kidding with your shell game reasoning. You want a serious discussion but you try to feed us this line of BS. Then you try to tell us that onorous taxes and burdensome regulation and litigation policies have nothing to do with why we are so behind in attracting and keeping businesses. Clearly you have never run a business or employed anyone yet you seem to be able to speak for all the people that do. Its not hard to see what states and cities are attracting most of the new businesses, its the business friendly ones. Why do you think your liberal Hollywood brethren have flocked here only recently. Your reasoning might hold water if it was hard for people to drive or take a buss to where they needed to go in Milwaukee.
I don’t really understand people’s objection to sales tax increases, except for a knee-jerk reaction to any taxation. Sales taxes are the most voluntary of taxes. If you don’t want to pay it, don’t buy things subject to the tax. Property taxes are somewhat voluntary, I suppose, but avoiding the tax costs a lot more than avoiding sales taxes.
The bottom line is that if this is the wrong thing to do, then economic activity in the area subject to the tax will have a net decrease. Because the tax is so voluntary, you can actually measure whether the reduction of spending due to the increase in prices is a net loss against the increase in spending due to the infrastructure build-up.
You can sit here and argue it until the cows come home. Or you can wait until there is actually data to support your claim that this spending isn’t worth the tax. This is the way taxes *should* be implemented (locally and voluntarily).
Jason Haas,
My, are you smug; but thanks for improving my quality of life, I guess I’m too stupid and parsimonious to do it myself. It’s good to know people like you and Dan are always looking for ways to better people like me, even if it involves taking away more and more of my limited income.
Here’s a prediction, the car rental tax will not begin to pay for the commuter rail and my real estate taxes will continue to increase. This is a bitter farce.
Gotta admit, as a strongly pro-transit guy, I don’t share your rosy outlook on the way things unfolded. So Milwaukee gets it’s own, separate, one-county “regional” authority? There’s joke #1. And Racine and Kenosha get a completely separate authority (joke #2) that’s going to last for all of 10 seconds until the rental car tax is ruled illegal, as the feds assured time and again that it would be (joke #3). All this was was reps from MKE saving their behinds by wisely separating themselves, knowing if they came back without an RTA there’d be hell to pay, and certain senators named Lehman from Racine taking the cowardly way out – fearing if he approved an RTA he’d get Petaki-ed, and therefore agreeing to a different authority everyone already knows up front is going to be struck down in the courts. And what does that leave us? A disjointed, amalgam of uncoordinated (and down south still non-existent
) plans on moving us forward. Pretty sad day for the truly regional transit we need in my eye.
And further, I don’t give credit to legislators for having courage to implement a sales tax we voted for overwhelmingly (btw – thank you for helping with that effort last fall). They damn well better have, especially given the extremely weak “leadership” our local reps provide in terms of bringing home the state bacon to Milwaukee. It’s about damn time they did SOMETHING.
Although, BonyT, your detachment from reality does make me laugh. You do know that actual surveys of actual businesses (not hack, single issue special interest groups like WMC) show taxes to be in the neighborhood of 5th-7th on the priority list when considering where to locate, with issues like health care costs, transit, education, quality of life and quality of workforce (all things that require…wait for it…taxes!…to develop) always outranking taxes as priorities, right? You do also know that when you consider ALL “taxes”: property tax, income tax, sales tax, other taxes and fees, that Wisconsin ranks 21st, not the sky-is-falling 5th that cherry pickers like to claim. We are a low fee state, and a low sales tax state. Enjoy that. And further, you do know that most of the biggest corporations in Wisconsin pay exactly $0 in taxes, due to loopholes, right? Man, those big business interests just can’t catch a break, can they? Get a grip on reality.
Smitty, maybe you should move to Texas when it secedes. Down there you’ll be able to pay for your schools, libraries, roads, highways, fire stations, police, airports, military, court system, and yes even mass transit, with libertarian magic dust. It’ll be MAGICAL!!!! Unicorns and everything!!!
JCG,
I appreciate your sophmoric sarcasm. Perhaps I should follow your sage advice and move South like many other Wisconsin retirees, college graduates and manufacturing jobs.
As a retired person living on a pension and investments, I pay almost 25% of my income in federal, state, and city taxes—taxes that will only go up. That’s not pixie dust, that’s a hard reality.
You’re the person living in a fool’s pardise where a progressive government will solve all our problems if we were only willing to turn over more and more of our income and property. I’m not willing but they’ll take it anyway.
I don’t have a problem with a county wide sales tax being used for general funding. However I don’t think a fixed (by percentage) sales tax used to finance a few specific things is a good idea because the funding level will likely not match the appropriate spending level. I rather see the county use a mix of property tax and sales tax for all of its functions and elect people who will allocate the money reasonably.
The property taxes are adjusted every year, which is faster than sales taxes can be in practice.
JCG, where do you get your 21st figure from? You must have a different search engine than the rest of us. I can find no where that ranks us better than 9th with respect to state and local taxes and 9th in property taxes with relation to percentage of property value. 1st worse property tax with respect to income of homeowner. Do you consider MSM or CNN money cherry picking? You have failed to consider our onorous regulation and litigation policy though. If you are a business that is found 1% liable you can be made to pay %100 percent of the cost in Wisconsin. Doyle is leading the effort to punish businesses for emmiting carbon dioxide. Libs are trying increase the damages an employer are subject to for “wrongfull firing” to the highest in the country. If you think these are good poicies especially in these times and that these policies will be helpfull in attracting business than you are helpless. Funny how you libs try to say that the cost of doing business has nothing to do with growing business. Is this what your trying to sell us?
Gee, maybe we shouldn’t have taxes for roads, either. Waddya think?
“I like to pay taxes. With them I buy civilization.” ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
@Greg,
Roads are funded mostly by fuel taxes and licensing fees. People who do not use roads do not buy fuel and do not pay for a drivers license.
Greg,
I like to pay taxes. With them I buy civilization.
O.K., taxes buys civilization. Accordingly, the more I am taxed the more I am civilized. If I turn all my property over to the state, I’ll be totally civilized.
Yet every Holems quote has its antithesis:
The power to tax is not the power to destroy while this Court sits. [Oliver Wendell Holmes]
dan, et al.
thanks!
@mwarden:
Quote: Roads are funded mostly by fuel taxes and licensing fees.
False. From the Finance section of the US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration’s most recent (2006) report, non-user funds from property taxes and other General Fund Appropriations made up $44.5 billion of the $116.5 billion in total revenues reported by the agency, with the remainder being covered by user fees.
(Source: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohpi/qffinance.cfm)
There are also many other costs to taxpayers not covered here such as the need for additional enforcement and emergency personnel, as well as infrastructure costs not covered by the Feds. City parking ramps, for example, now cost roughly $50,000 PER STALL to build and maintain. Clearly, these costs are not offset by user fees. These costs all represent taxpayer subsidies of the auto-based transportation system.
Any way you slice it, the car-based transportation system is taxpayer-subsidized.
@the professor:
> non-user funds from property taxes and other
> General Fund Appropriations made up $44.5 billion
> of the $116.5 billion in total revenues reported
> by the agency, with the remainder being covered by
> user fees.
Sir, this is exactly what I said. Roads are mostly funded by user fees. I know they are partially general-taxpayer subsidized, which is why I didn’t say “fully funded”. The fact is, the majority of the funds come from the people who use the infrastructure. The only other form of transit I can think of where this is the case is airline travel, and even that is subsidized partially.
The point is that other forms of transit are more heavily funded by non-users, so Greg’s injection of “we pay for roads with taxes, so that’s the same thing” doesn’t really apply.