YORKVILLE - There were two contrasting presentations on Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail last week for county supervisors, and a promise of action from state government.

KRM would carry passengers between Milwaukee and Kenosha, where they could connect with the Chicagoland train service provided by Metra. Along with local bus systems it would be funded by a sales tax of up to 0.5 percent levied in each participating area, although Racine-area officials have said that they would not need to levy the full tax amount to fund both KRM and bus transportation.

Tax burden

That sales tax idea was questioned when Jody Karls, a member of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority, spoke to the County Board for about 90 minutes on Tuesday. The RTA was charged by Gov. Jim Doyle with studying regional transit and compiling suggestions about it.

The problem with a sales tax, said Supervisor Daniel Sharkozy, is that it's regressive and therefore something that particularly affects lower-income residents, especially when the economy is down.

"But what we know now, what we're experiencing now, is a drop in sales, consumption, all of those things that would have a reflection on a sales tax if it were implemented. … So now what would you do for this funding source with sales going down?" he asked.

A large part of those tax revenues, Karls said, are drawn from cigarettes, beer, gasoline and other items which are not discretionary spending for people. And about 60 percent would be paid by people from outside the area.

Questions of reason

When Thomas Rubin, author of a study on KRM, gave a presentation on Friday, he suggested that the analysis of KRM's potential is flawed, that it would not create as much development as projected, would not attract as many riders as projected and, for people living not too far from the city, a rapid bus service could be better.

"We are not saying you should do this as a substitute for KRM," Rubin said. "What we are suggesting is that this be given more study."

Although it wasn't named as such, the rapid bus service with more comfortable coaches and preference at traffic lights, was studied, said Ken Yunker, executive director of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, which assisted the RTA. Even with all its advantages, the bus service still would be about twice as slow as a train at moving people to Milwaukee, he said.

As to the projections, Yunker said, those were done using federal models and were done in other cases by people who used to work for Metra. Rubin said during his talk that Metra might be the nation's best-run commuter rail service.

Capitol action

The focus now, Karls said, is making sure the proposal succeeds in the Legislature, and that means making sure local legislators know residents' position.

Gov. Doyle isn't talking yet about the details of his budget proposal, said spokeswoman Carla Vigue, but he intends to act quickly.

"It's still definitely a top priority for the governor," she said. "He's just not ready to say how he plans to move forward with it."