Milwaukee County's Transit Troubles

Less than ten years ago, Milwaukee County received awards for its public transit system.  It was a national yardstick to which other transit systems were compared.

It is a different story today.  While other transit systems in the country have seen recent healthy jumps in ridership, Milwaukee County has actually seen a drop in ridership in recent years.  The reason for the decline in readership is  partially due to higher fares and partially due to continuously slashed routes.

The problem is not the county management of the transit system.  The problem is with the lack of a dedicated funding source that is not dependent on property taxes.  Even Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker has basically indicated the same thing by his advocacy of a regional transit authority.

The untenable transit troubles that Milwaukee County faces today has been years in the making.  There has been decades of underfunded mandates from the state, which causes more and more of our property tax dollars having to go to cover the shortfalls, meaning less money for non-mandated services like the parks and the transit system.  This was only exasperated by Walker’s one track mind of no taxes to help support these systems.  The issues was further worsened by poor budgeting requiring more money that should have gone to transit to go to other programs instead.

Unfortunately, even as the transit system has grown closer and closer to a crisis status, our elected officials have played political games at our expense.

Scott Walker had first continued to advocate for the dedication of some of the State’s sales tax on new cars be earmarked for Milwaukee County’s transit system.  He did this for years, even after it was made clearly known to him that this was not going to happen.  Now for the last couple of years, Walker has been pushing for privatization of Mitchell Airport, even though this has been proven to be a bad course of action.

Governor Jim Doyle had proposed a Regional Transit Authority (RTA) that would have encompassed Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha Counties.  While this would have indeed solved the funding problem, it failed in the state budget process.  There were too many add-ons, like the proposed KRM rail system, to which people objected.  It was further hindered by the fact that Racine County refused to even hold a vote on whether they would agree to the proposed .5% sales tax that would have funded the plan.  But much like Walker, Doyle has refused to budge on this, and it is being report that he is planning on using the same proposal to fix the transit system.

Last year, the Milwaukee County Board was able to override a veto by Walker, and put a proposal for a sales tax referendum on the November ballot.  The sales tax would have provided much needed property tax relief as well as have created a dedicated funding source that would have supported the transit system, the parks system, and the Emergency Medical System (EMS).  The voters of Milwaukee County expressed their desire to preserve transit, the parks, and EMS by passing the referendum.

Some of our state officials, like Senator Lena Taylor and Senator Tamara Grigsby heard the voters, and worked very hard at getting the wishes of Milwaukee County voters into the state budget.  Unfortunately, their efforts were in vain, as the original proposal was first mangled in the bargaining process, having the parks funding removed.  Then Governor Jim Doyle also ignored Milwaukee County voters by vetoing the remaining provision out of the budget, in favor of his RTA proposal.

So now, as the politicians play their political games, Milwaukee County finds itself in dire straits indeed.

Senator Grigsby has provided some numbers that show the importance of the Milwaukee County transit system:

• $67 million-the amount of property tax relief that could be provided by approving the Milwaukee County referendum
• 60,000-the number of jobs that would become inaccessible to those in Milwaukee County who rely on mass transportation
• $18.3 million-the projected 2010 deficit the Milwaukee County Transit System will face unless changes are made to its funding
• 49%-the percentage of transit that is used for job-related purposes

In response to this lack of a dedicated funding source, Walker’s administration has made a number of alarming suggestions.  Included in these suggestions is a proposal to start charging transit users a 25 cent fee for transfers as well as a large number of eliminated routes and reduced routes.

Milwaukee County First has been able to get a list of all the proposed changes to the transit system.  Or, if the reader prefers a visual display of the dramatic proposed cuts, MCF is also able to present a map of which routes, including all of the Freeway Flyer routes, are to be eliminated or scaled back.

It is plain to see that the effects would be devastating for anyone that uses transit.  Commuters that live in the suburbs or exburbs and work downtown will now have to drive all the way in, creating more congestion, burning more gas, and making parking even more of an expensive venture.  People that rely on transit to get to work, to school, to the store or to their medical providers will find such activities much more difficult, if not impossible.

The ramifications of this is frightening.  The economy will suffer due to employees not being able to get to their jobs, and employers will be unable to produce their wares if their employees can’t get to the work site.  As people lose their jobs, they will need economic assistance, putting an even greater strain on budgets and taxes.

Relief is needed now.  Not next year, not in the next budget cycle, but now.

As noted above, Governor Doyle’s solution is the same one that just failed to pass muster.  There is no indication that things are different now, or that something changed that would now allow the proposal to pass.

The only solution that is viable and can be done quickly enough to help Milwaukee County would be to honor the original sales tax referendum.  The state legislature and Governor Doyle need to work together to try to get this introduced and passed, as it was originally proposed.  If a regional transit authority plan is later worked out, the newly strengthened Milwaukee County transit system can be used as a base for the plan.

Once the state approves the sales tax, the County Board needs to present the resolution.  To make it more palatable to Walker, they need to put aside their power struggle with him and, if necessary, add language that would guarantee the property tax relief.  Walker also needs to put aside his political ideology and sign off on the Board’s resolution.

Failure to get a dedicated funding source in a very timely manner will only wreak havoc on Milwaukee County as well as the economic health of all of the region.  Passage of the sales tax would also honor the will of the people who voted to preserve this vital service.

Milwaukee County First calls for our elected officials to put aside their political posturing and gamesmanship and put Milwaukee County first.