RTA pushes tax hike
By KEVIN P. CRAVER - kcraver@nwherald.com
The sales tax you pay to subsidize Chicago area mass transit could double under a last-minute proposal that the Regional Transportation Authority gave to state lawmakers.
The RTA, which oversees Metra, Pace and the Chicago Transit Authority, wants the General Assembly to increase the sales tax for the six-county area another quarter cent, or about 25 cents per $100 in merchandise. RTA leaders are threatening service cutbacks and fee increases if it cannot make up a predicted $226 million deficit.
While the proposed increase might not seem like much, it is the principle of the matter for local lawmakers, who called it a poorly disguised attempt to bail out the cash-strapped CTA at the collar counties’ expense. The CTA accounts for more than half of the RTA’s deficit.
“I’m adamantly opposed, not because we don’t need better public transportation, but because I don’t want to reward bad behavior,” state Rep. Jack Franks, D-Woodstock said. “The CTA has been horribly mismanaged. To give them more of our tax dollars because they cannot run their agency efficiently is not good government.”
The RTA proposal would generate $452 million a year, $280 million of which would come from the quarter-cent tax hike. The plan only covers operating expenses, and not the five-year, $10 billion capital improvement program the RTA unveiled in February.
The CTA will receive 60 percent of the $322.5 million earmarked for the three transit agencies, with 30 percent going to Metra and 10 percent going to Pace, RTA Executive Director Steve Schlickman said. He criticized the idea that the proposal is a CTA bailout plan.
“The Chicago Transit Authority has traditionally received approximately 60 percent of all our funding since 1985,” Schlickman said. “All we’re doing is giving them the same percentage of this new amount, and that’s all they’re going to get. This is not a bailout for the CTA.”
Franks and state Rep. Mike Tryon, R-Crystal Lake, said it was unfair for county shoppers to pay more, because they benefit solely from Metra. Pace only runs a few bus routes in the county, and has a limited Dial-a-Ride program with certain cities.
“I never even counted on [any increase] going to McHenry County,” said state Sen. Pamela Althoff, R-Crystal Lake. “In all my discussions with RTA, CTA, Metra and Pace, it’s been pretty clear that this money is needed for the CTA.”
Approval of the tax could be elusive for the RTA. The current legislative session ends tonight, meaning approval after that will require a two-thirds majority, or 71 representatives and 36 senators. Furthermore, Gov. Rod Blagojevich has said that he would veto the increase.
Metra riders waiting for the train at the Pingree Road station Wednesday also were lukewarm to paying higher sales taxes. Bruce Bailey of Lake in the Hills, who formerly led a not-for-profit agency, said the RTA had to live within its means.
“The answer for the CTA and RTA is to control their budgets – the answer is not always spending more money,” Bailey said. “Get your budgets in line.”
McHenry County Board member Nick Provenzano, R-McHenry, shared similar sentiments as he waited for a train to go to a trade show.
“Mass transit is important to the county, but we’re tired of being a donor county to the inefficiencies of the city of Chicago,” Provenzano said. “We’ve seen it again and again.”
The proposal also includes another quarter-cent sales tax to raise money for collar-county transportation projects. Franks said such a tax should be put to county voters by referendum, and not be state-dictated.
