Officials mull KRM funding options
BY JOE POTENTE
jpotente@kenoshanews.com

Southeastern Wisconsin mayors, county executives and others agree it
would be a good idea to unify Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee’s
transit systems, a local leader said Thursday. What they haven’t
reached consensus on is how to pay for it, said Kenosha Mayor John
Antaramian.

Antaramian, Kenosha County Executive Allan Kehl and their
counterparts from Racine, Milwaukee and Waukesha met again behind
closed doors Thursday to discuss the possibility of linking the local
bus systems under a regional authority. The idea, backers have said,
is to create an interchangeable transit system that can provide
service across borders while tying into the proposed

Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail line. Antaramian said the
concept has the support of the business community, which is trying to
brand the counties that surround Milwaukee as a greater region.
Secondarily, a regional transit authority could conceivably remove
local transit from the property tax levy — if officials can
agree on a dedicated funding source to pay for it, advocates say.

Antaramian, who favors a sales tax for this purpose, said the group at
Thursday’s meeting did not come any closer to reaching an
agreement on funding. “Basically, there are individuals who
still have concern about the sales tax,” Antaramian said.

“I believe it is the appropriate use.” Antaramian declined
to name who is holding out on the sales tax idea, but Milwaukee County
Executive Scott Walker and Racine County Executive Bill McReynolds
have previously staked out positions against it. Neither could be
reached for comment Thursday. Sales tax advocates, including
Antaramian, Kehl and Racine Mayor Gary Becker, note that it is the
most commonly used method of funding transit throughout the nation.

Antaramian said the group of regional leaders plans to hold another
meeting next week, though he will likely not attend if a funding
consensus does not appear imminent. Kehl was not reachable for comment
Thursday afternoon. Kenosha County Public Works Director Fred Patrie,
who joined Kehl at the meeting, said he sensed there was some progress
in Thursday’s talks. “There was a lot of discussion; there
were a lot of different ideas,” Patrie said. “And I
think my summary of it would be that they want to meet again because
they asked for some additional information on how the federal
government views the various urbanized areas within the three counties
(Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee) and including Waukesha County.”
Patrie said those issues concern how federal funding could be
leveraged for a regional system and how the region’s urbanized
and nonurbanized areas fit together.