In some ways, the Dane County Board's vote on creating a regional transit authority is one of the longest and shortest journeys for a piece of legislation in the county's recent history. After enabling legislation was passed in the budget by the state Legislature in June, board Chairman Scott McDonell introduced a resolution at the board's Oct. 15 meeting that would create the new governmental body. An RTA, which allows for regional governance on transit issues, could pave the way for a commuter rail line and an expanded bus system, among other options. The measure was approved by two committees on Monday, Oct. 26, setting up a vote by the full County Board on Nov. 5, just three weeks after the resolution's introduction. While that may seem speedy relative to other bills, those involved in the Madison area's quest for improved transit through a regional governing body say that this vote has been a long time in coming. As former County Board chairman Dick Wagner recently pointed out, seven county executives going back to 1974 have supported the creation of an RTA, and local studies on regional transportation go back equally far. The County Board has been generally supportive of regional transportation, including a 22-13 vote in 2007 that signaled support for an RTA to the state, and there's little to suggest the votes will be different Thursday. Still, some conservative members of the County Board say the county should hold an advisory referendum so that the public has an opportunity to weigh in before the board creates the body or spends any more money on transportation planning and studies. Under state law, the RTA could levy up to a half-percent sales tax without a referendum; RTA proponents have pledged to hold a referendum before a tax is levied, but after the body is created. One of the RTA's chief opponents, Supervisor Eileen Bruskewitz of the town of Westport, proposed a resolution in July calling for a spring referendum, but it has been stuck in committee ever since. She recently moved to bring it onto Thursday's agenda, saying its delay was another example of undemocratic moves by RTA supporters, similar to the 2:30 a.m. vote in the state Legislature that granted permission for a Dane County Regional Transit Authority. Bruskewitz and others have also criticized the unelected nature of the body, which would consist of nine appointed members: two each appointed by the county executive and the mayor of Madison; one by the governor and one each by the mayors of Sun Prairie, Middleton and Fitchburg; and a representative of the Dane County Towns Association. Though RTA proponents say a final decision on what types of transportation to fund will come later, Bruskewitz says she sees the RTA as a front for putting an unpopular transportation plan - namely, the Transport 2020 study's $250 million commuter rail recommendation - into place. "Once this goes through, there's no turning back," she says. "They're not brave enough to come out and say what they want to do, so they created this machine to do what they want and no one will stop it." Public opinion on the RTA, however, seems to have shifted. Thirty-five people spoke in favor of the RTA's creation during the committee hearings in late October, and only seven spoke against it. This was a dramatic reversal from public hearings across the county in late winter, when speakers against the RTA outnumbered proponents 3 to 1. Bill Richardson, a leading critic of commuter rail, says the lack of opposition at the October meetings was due to the late notice of the meeting and the downtown location, which discouraged many in the outer areas from attending. Like Bruskewitz, he is not happy that the measure will soon get a vote by the full County Board. "This is the fastest the County Board has moved in a long time," he says. McDonell says that those pushing to hold a referendum before the board votes to form the transit authority are simply engaging in stalling tactics. "This has been going on for years," he says. "We had three public meetings around the county. From a public hearing, public notice point of view, nothing I've worked on has had more meetings." McDonell says that it would be up to the transit authority to decide on a recommended transportation plan, so it's important to have that plan in place before a referendum. Moreover, county legal staff have advised it would be impossible for the county to hold a referendum for just the communities within a Dane County Regional Transit Authority. The RTA will follow Metropolitan Planning Area boundaries and include seven cities, five villages and 15 towns within the central part of the county. A number of outer municipalities in the county will not fall within the RTA. Thus, McDonell says, for a fair and representative vote, the RTA must be created so it can hold its own referendum. "You need to be taxed to get a vote, and if you're not being taxed, you shouldn't get a vote," McDonell says. As for critics who say the RTA will not be accountable enough, McDonell says most of the people making appointments, from County Executive Kathleen Falk to Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and Sun Prairie Mayor Joe Chase, have stated their support for a referendum. And it's hard to conceive of a scenario where enough appointees go against those wishes to prevent a referendum. McDonell says the board needs to create the regional transit authority now if the referendum is going to make the November 2010 ballot.
"If we drag this out for six months," he says, RTA members "won't have that choice."
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