A little time, little accord for transit funding

Pace and CTA riders caught a break Friday, but serious transit problems still loom in the near future as the governor and lawmakers seem worlds apart on a solution.

Transit officials agreed to accept an $84 million stopgap deal that basically has them burning through cash from next year's deficit budget to put off fare hikes and service cuts for a few weeks.

In doing so, transit officials moved to Nov. 4 a so-called doomsday of fare hikes and service cuts for the region's bus and train system. Without the stopgap, the changes would have taken effect Sunday.

Yet, there is no guarantee the extra breathing room will lead to agreement on a long-term funding plan that will prevent a dismantling of the transit system by year's end.

"This could be a huge mistake," said Brian Imus, director of the mass transit-friendly Illinois Public Interest Research Group. "Commuters should be angry at the governor and legislative leaders for playing politics with this."

In pushing for the brief bailout plan, Gov. Rod Blagojevich pledged to try to work with legislative leaders on a solution, but he has long opposed the sales tax hikes most of them agree on.

"It is wrong," the governor said Friday. "On the one hand, you say you are giving them relief by keeping fares where they are, but at the same time … you have gone into their other pocket and taken out money with a sales tax increase."

Instead, Blagojevich wants to raise business taxes, though he hasn't provided much detail on exactly how.

Key lawmakers have declared that idea a non-starter because it requires people statewide to subsidize Chicago-area transit. The sales tax proposal is restricted to the northeastern six counties.

Endless stalemate

The debate continues in Springfield next week when senators could take up a vote on the sales tax plan along with a major expansion in public works projects funded by new casinos.

The sales tax hike would add 50 cents to every $100 bill on merchandise in the collar counties and 25 cents on the same tab in Cook County.

Transit supporters started pushing for a new funding plan early this year. But lawmakers and the governor have been bitterly split over funding on everything from police service to health care expansion, pushing the legislature into an overtime session that seems to have no end and no accomplishments to claim.

Adding to the fire, Blagojevich is suing House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat, accusing him of failing to abide by special sessions the governor called.

Even though Blagojevich said Friday he is willing to meet with legislative leaders, nothing seems to have changed the acrimony among them and their positions on key issues.

Madigan still opposes plans to add new casinos to fund major road and transit building projects. Jones and Blagojevich and Republican leaders are working on that plan now.

The casino deal is a requirement for many Republicans and downstate lawmakers to win their vote on the sales tax hike for transit. Both chambers need a supermajority three-fifths vote to override the governor's veto of those tax hikes.

Political squabbling continues.

Transit officials blasted the impasse Friday, but the whole debate soon devolved into a political battle thought to be long over -- the 2006 gubernatorial contest between Blagojevich and Republican Judy Baar Topinka.

"This has been dumped here by an administration that wants to wipe its hands of the issue," said Topinka, now a member of the Regional Transportation Authority, in voting against the governor's bailout plan Friday.

"(This) has not been on the governor's radar," she added later before a gaggle of TV cameras. "The governor has to get to the table at some point. Frankly, you have to show up."

Upon hearing about Topinka's objections, the governor apparently couldn't resist one last salvo.

"The only thing I can say is: What's she thinking?" he said with a smirk, quoting the mantra from his onslaught of negative campaign commercials last November.

Meanwhile, transit riders are left to wonder if the fare hikes and service cuts now threatened for Nov. 4 will come or not.

On Friday, transit officials reiterated the dismal outlook if no new funding comes by year's end: CTA el line cuts, drastic fare hikes, elimination of suburban weekend service, slashing of bus routes serving Metra stations and the rejection of CTA passes by Pace buses.

Still, some lawmakers and transit officials hold out hope -- kind of.

"I think it can be done," said state Rep. Sid Mathias, who helped push the sales tax measure when it failed in the House last week. "But it can't be done if people don't change their minds and they don't talk to each other. We haven't seen much of that lately."

'Doomsday' postponed

What happened? The governor advanced about $80 million to transit agencies from their 2008 state funding to put off fare hikes and service cuts from Sunday to Nov. 14.

Does this solve the problem? No. Lawmakers still need to approve a long-term funding plan before Nov. 4 to prevent even worse fare hikes and service cuts by the end of the year.

What are the options? The governor wants to raise business taxes but hasn't detailed his plans, and many lawmakers oppose the idea. Legislative leaders and transit officials are pushing sales tax hikes.

What would the sales tax hike mean to me? 50 cents in added tax on a $100 merchandise bill in the collar counties and 25 cents in Cook County

What's next? Senators are set to debate the sales tax hike plan on Monday or Tuesday.