Governor adds suburban buses to bailout offer
A day after offering to help put off fare hikes and service cuts for CTA riders, the governor stepped forward today with a plan to temporarily bail out Pace riders.
Still, several transit officials who have to sign off on the deal remain suspect as the temporary bailout will only worsen the financial state of the area’s train and bus system if higher taxes are not soon approved by lawmakers.
The governor’s offer now includes $6 million to be split between Pace and Metra and $54 million for regional ADA para-transit. Yesterday, Gov. Rod Blagojevich offered the CTA $24 million that would put off fare hikes up to $1 and the elimination of 39 bus routes to Nov. 4 from Sunday.
It remains unclear if the new funds offered Pace could help put off a 25-cent suburban fare hike and cuts of nearly two dozen bus routes that are planned for Sunday and October, respectively. Collar county ADA para-transit riders also stand to face a 50-cent increase in fares on Sunday.
“The riders who use the CTA, Metra and Pace should not suffer undue and unnecessary hardship while their elected leaders work through a complicated legislative process for a long-term mass transit funding solution,” the governor said in a letter today to transit officials.
Appointed members of the Regional Transportation Authority, which oversees the three transit agencies, are set to vote on whether or not to accept the bailout money. Some have already expressed reservations, including the board chairman Jim Reilly.
“On its face, the proposal averts an immediate crisis, but may create an even greater problem in the coming months,” Reilly said.
Top RTA officials were not commenting today, but board member Judy Baar Topinka - the state’s former Republican treasurer - announced that she will vote “no” on the deal.
Today Blagojevich continued to urge the RTA board to take the deal. On Wednesday, he told them not to “look a gift horse in the mouth.”
Yet, the funds Blagojevich offers are an advancement on money the agencies would have gotten anyway in 2008. If the agencies take the money and no new taxes are approved by the end of the year, the transit system will be nearly $100 million worse off than before.
On the other hand, RTA board members would risk taking the flak for immediate transit cuts and fare hikes if they fail to go along with the governor.
CTA Chairwoman Carole Brown, also an RTA board member, said she would urge the RTA to approve the plan. But just in case, the agency is not yet going to remove signage that warns passengers of the 39 bus route cuts and $1 rail fare hike.
Despite the bailout offer, the governor continues to oppose a plan to raise regional sales taxes to bring in more than $400 million to the CTA, Metra and Pace. The agencies are about $240 million in the red this year, and transit officials have been pushing the sales tax hike as a long-term financial solution.
On Friday, transit officials will start looking at additional cuts and fare hikes for January if higher taxes are not approved. Pace and Metra officials are eyeing the elimination of weekend service.
The tax hike measure would raise the collar county sales tax a half-point and the Cook County sales tax a quarter-point. That would bring in nearly 50 percent of the revenue the agencies currently reap from regional sales taxes.
In total, the measure will add 50 cents in tax to a $100 bill for merchandise in the collar counties and 25 cents on the same tab in Cook County.
So far, legislative leaders have been unable to muster the votes for the plan. The proposal failed in the House last week and a vote in the Senate was delayed this week when it failed to gain enough support.
The Senate is expected to vote on the measure Monday along with a major public works plan funded by new casinos. Blagojevich also expressed support for the public works package Wednesday, calling it "real progress."
The governor’s release on the new funding package today claims the $6 million was part of the original deal offered the RTA yesterday.
However, his letter to the RTA made no mention of the additional funds, the governor didn’t reveal them at his press conference on the topic and both Pace and the CTA knew nothing of the offer.