It's time for Legislature to act on RTAs

From an editorial in the Appleton Post-Crescent:

The state Legislature can ignore the issue of regional transit authorities, but the problems aren't going to go away.

Regional transit authorities are governmental bodies established to promote regional cooperation on transportation issues. In the Fox Cities, Valley Transit is facing the loss of most of its federal funding — between $1.5 million and $2 million a year, or about 20 percent of its budget.

After the 2010 U.S. census is taken, the Fox Cities urban area is expected to exceed 200,000 in population. Federal law says that, once an urban area reaches that population, most its federal funding will be eliminated.

That's going to cause a serious problem for Valley Transit, as well as its customers, who for the most part are people who really need public transportation to lead active, productive lives.

An RTA, which has the power to levy up to a half-percent sales tax, could replace the lost federal funding. To make up $1.5 million, though, the tax would only need to be one-tenth of a percent — one cent on every $10 purchase.
A couple of misguided attempts to set up a Fox Cities RTA as part of the state budget failed. But a better solution is for the Legislature to pass a bill that sets up a framework by which regions can approve and set up their own RTAs to meet their unique needs.

This is a problem in the Fox Cities, but not only the Fox Cities. Green Bay is in the same situation, and other smaller metropolitan areas of the state could be, too.