Monday, June 29, 2009

Doyle Doesn't Fail To Disappoint

Governor Jim Doyle signed off on the budget this morning, but not before taking his veto pen to it. Unfortunately in doing so, he took a page out of Walker's playbook and starting using Milwaukee County's poor, and its taxpayers, as pawns in his political game against Walker.

Unfortunately, one of the things that he vetoed was the .65% sales tax for Milwaukee County that would have gone to restoring and preserving mass transit and to bolster safety networks:
Gov. Jim Doyle rewrote portions of the state budget Monday, killing a potential 0.65% sales tax increase in Milwaukee County.

Doyle's fellow Democrats who control the Legislature included a provision in the state budget that would have allowed the Milwaukee County Board to raise the sales tax by 0.65% - 0.5% for buses and 0.15% for public safety. Those increases would have raised the sales tax to 6.25%, but Doyle vetoed them.

This is a big blow to Milwaukee County's transit system. The transit system was in dire straits going into this year and is barely keeping itself upright. However, many feel that it is in a death spiral and will completely fall apart unless a separate. reliable source of funding it found.

A press release from State Senator Tamara Grigsby highlights the importance of this part of the budget, and what it will mean for the economy of Milwaukee County:
"As people honored us with their votes last November, they asked us to revive transit, parks, and culture throughout Milwaukee County," Grigsby said. "By moving forward with this referendum and establishing a Southeast Regional Transit Authority that includes the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee Commuter Line, we will fortify our regional economy. In this instance, numbers speak louder than words when it comes to illustrating how important a real transit and parks solution is for Milwaukee County."

Some significant numbers include:

* $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

* 1.7 million-the number of passenger trips the KRM Commuter Line would service each year

* 49%-the percentage of transit that is used for job-related purposes

"Job access and the future of our economy depend on mass transit," Grigsby said. "In addition, our decaying parks are in desperate need of revitalization. We need to act together and we must act now to find a compromise that will meet Southeast Wisconsin's long-term needs. By approving the Milwaukee County referendum and creating a Southeast Regional Transit Authority that includes KRM, we will advance a truly regional economy."
Many on the right see Doyle's veto of this section of the budget was because he is afraid of some sort of backlash from the conservatives. To be honest, I almost bought into that train of thought (pun intended).

But upon further reflection, I think that maybe Doyle's goal was more sinister than that. I am starting to wonder if Doyle vetoed the sales tax in order to force Walker's hand in the upcoming county budget.

Walker is either going to have to find a way to come up with over $18 million, like by raising property taxes or he is going to have to cut the transit system by some 35%, which would seriously cripple the local economy.

If I am correct in this cynical presumption, and he is playing politics with people's lives and livelihoods, that would make Doyle as bad as Walker.

I just don't understand why both of these people are trying to ruin the other's candidacy by ruining Milwaukee County. Maybe it is idealistic of me, but I would rather see a candidate (or presumptive candidate) try to run on a record of actually helping people.

I just hope that the state legislature finds a way to make this sales tax still happen. I don't know of anyone that wouldn't like some relief on their property tax. Nor do I suspect that anyone would want to see the largest metropolitan area in the state fail economically.

4 comments:

  1. Of course Doyle was motivated by politics in vetoing the .65% sales tax increase. I think his political calculation is probably correct, though. Folks would notice the higher cost of purchases and they wouldn't like it. If the economy were booming it would be a different story, but right now it's not what Democratic politicians want to have to be defending going into an election year. I hope this move results in the (re)election of a Democratic governor next year. I hope we get at least a few more seats in the state legislature as well.

    With increased Democratic majorities in the legislature and continued hold of the governorship, and the end of Walker's terrible tenure as County Exec, the issues of public transit and parks may be revisited in a year or two with a better chance of success.

    (I want to note that I was a supporter of the sales tax referendum last year and praise the County Board for getting it on the ballot against Walker's repeated attempts to defeat it. When it was proposed, the economy was in better shape and it seemed like a good source of revenue for transit and parks. But the sales tax is still a regressive tax, more so in a down economy.)

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  2. I'd just point out that the KRM related RTA was approved, and so that portion can move forward. I believe the sales tax proposal shouldn't of been muddled together with parks and ems. Transit should go into an RTA, and the others can be individual sales taxes if need be.

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  3. The Transit PhilosopherJune 30, 2009 at 11:57 AM

    Dave-
    You’re leaving the politics out of your equation. If Parks and EMS had been unbundled from Transit, the referendum would have never passed. Parks advocates would have rightly asked, “what are we doing about my priority?”, and been less than fully supportive of a Transit-only measure. By linking these issues together, a coalition that could win in a referendum was created.

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  4. Holloway came out today to proclaim that he's vetoing any KRM funding across the board due to potential bus service getting cut. This tit-for-tat mentality from county leadership is beyond tiresome.

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