By Michael Burke
Journal Times | Posted: Thursday, September 20, 2007 12:00 am
RACINE COUNTY - A virtual "Who's Who" of Racine area business leaders has collectively written the state Assembly speaker urging legislative action on commuter rail.
Tuesday's letter from 14 top executives was addressed to Assembly Speaker Michael Huebsch, a Republican from La Crosse. It asks him to support the proposed local funding method for a Metra rail extension from Kenosha to Milwaukee.
KRM would operate 14 daily round trips in a 33-mile corridor with nine stops and carry an estimated 1.7 million passengers per year.
The rail service would use the existing Union Pacific Railroad track into the downtown Milwaukee area. Passengers would connect with Chicago's Metra commuter rail by changing trains at Kenosha or Waukegan, Ill.
"The business community in (Southeastern) Wisconsin strongly supports the proposed KRM commuter rail line and the three-county rental car fee which would fund the local share of capital and operating costs," the executives wrote.
Under the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority plan, the current $2 fee each time a car is rented would increase to $15. That would raise an estimated $4.9 million per year in the three KRM counties.
The fee would constitute the major local funding method - for both capital and operating costs - apart from tax subsidies.
Just as importantly, an application for a federal New Starts grant for half of the estimated $200 million capital costs is doomed without a local funding method in place.
Although the RTA adopted the car rental fee as the local KRM funding mechanism, that requires legislative authorization. The rental fee authorization is in the Democratic-controlled Senate's state budget version, but not in the Republican-controlled Assembly version.
A joint conference committee has so far been unable to resolve the differences between the two houses' budgets.
"As business people and employers, we believe KRM will attract new business and spur economic development, and allow employers in the region to draw from a wider pool of workers and talent," the letter to Huebsch states.
"Commuter rail has a proven record of success around the country in densely populated areas like the Chicago-Milwaukee corridor. We believe KRM will provide a significant boost to the local communities along the route and our state's overall economy.
"We urge the Legislature to adopt the recommendations of the (RTA) which are contained in the Senate version of the budget," the letter concludes.
It is signed by the top executives of Putzmeister America, Case-New Holland, Twin Disc, Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-All Saints, Merchants Moving & Storage Co., Norco Manufacturing, Wispark, Johnson Financial Group, Johnson Keland Management, SC Johnson, Kranz Inc., Modine Manufacturing Co., Ruud Lighting and In-Sink-Erator.
Sen. John Lehman, D-Racine, said Thursday that his party continues to try to get a whole state budget deal which includes the KRM funding. He said the letter to Huebsch should have some impact despite being from nonconstituents of his.
"It's remarkable," Lehman said. "(Business executives) are coming to me and saying, 'We've got to have this thing.' And they're not afraid to move across party lines."