People working for the KRM commuter rail link through southeastern Wisconsin say they still plan to apply for federal money, despite the state budget.

In budget vetoes released on Monday, Gov. Jim Doyle left intact a regional transit authority for southeastern Wisconsin to oversee KRM but eliminated a separate authority for Milwaukee County. He also removed an extra $2 car rental fee to support the Racine and Kenosha bus systems (which would have required them to find matching funds), and a half-cent sales tax for Milwaukee County to shore up its ailing bus system.

The bus money was critical, officials say, because the Federal Transit Administration prefers to see a full regional transit plan from areas applying for aid.

"Yeah, I think it is a weaker application because of that," said Karl Ostby, chairman of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority. That group was established to recommend how commuter rail and other transit should be organized, and it will be replaced once the members of the new Southeastern Regional Transit Authority are appointed.

The application to the federal government will continue, Ostby said. He said he believes Doyle was asking all the entities involved to unify under a single, truly regional transit authority.

That is what he wishes, said Lee Sensenbrenner, a spokesman for the governor, "because you didn't have a plan that embraced the whole region. And he saw that approach in the KRM."

What Doyle expects of the Legislature is to formulate such a plan with a solid funding source, Sensenbrenner said.

Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine, said he hopes the FTA will approve money for preliminary engineering if the state also gives its assurance that it is working toward integrated regional transit.

"The long and the short of it is we're still going to move forward with an application for just the train, and we want to do that sooner rather than later," Mason said.

Milwaukee heat

Regional cooperation was in short supply at the Joint Finance Committee meeting which Mason attended on Tuesday. The committee was asked to authorize $35,000 to help fund work with the Union Pacific railroad and update estimates of how many people would ride KRM. The committee defeated the funding 10-6.

It would have been better to have updated estimates, Ostby said, but the application can be done without them.

Some Milwaukee area legislators said Doyle's vetoes disrespected the hard work that had gone into the rail compromise.

"I think its fair to say this isn't about $35,000," Rep. Tamara Grigsby, D-Milwaukee, told the committee. Nixing the sales tax eliminated $67 million for bus transit and $22 million in tax relief, she said, and estimates say that 100,000 jobs will be lost in the next year because bus service cuts will prevent people from reaching work.

The legislators' comments were echoed by Milwaukee County Board Chairman Lee Holloway. He was quoted in a Milwaukee news report as saying that he objected to the loss of bus transit money and would fight KRM in retaliation.

"I actually commend the governor," Ostby said. "The governor, I think, is a great supporter of transit and a great supporter of KRM, but he also has the fortitude to say, 'Let's get it right.'"

State Sen. John Lehman, D-Racine, said Doyle has asked for a meeting about the issue next week.