Another Transit Deal Come Apart

From the Daily Herald

SPRINGFIELD - Doomsday for Chicago-area bus and train agencies drew another day closer after an apparent deal for a state bailout fell through Wednesday.
The Illinois Senate rejected a plan late Wednesday that would have raised suburban sales taxes and a Chicago real estate transfer tax to provide millions for the transit agencies. Earlier in the day, the House had approved a nearly identical plan.
The House also approved Wednesday taking the state's portion of the sales tax on gasoline in Chicago and the suburbs and sending it to the transit agencies. But that deal had little support in the Illinois Senate.
If a state bailout isn't approved by Jan. 20, transit officials said they'll raise fares, cut routes and layoff hundreds.
This issue has lingered in the General Assembly for months. Gov. Rod Blagojevich has both called for quick action but also threatened to veto the plan that relies on sales taxes.
Blagojevich had a video monitor erected outside his Capitol office, and throughout Wednesday it played taped testimonials from Chicago-area transit riders, urging lawmakers to act.
State Sen. Rickey Hendon, a Chicago Democrat who sponsored the bailout, said he believed Blagojevich would sign the sales tax plan if lawmakers could get it to his desk.
A Blagojevich spokeswoman begged to differ.
"Nothing about the governor's position has changed," said spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch.
Wednesday's rejection also deals a blow to DuPage and possibly other suburban counties. The transit bailout was based on a quarter percentage point sales tax increase, but the same plan would have given those counties the authority to approve their own quarter point sales tax increase to fund transportation or public safety issues.
That provision was inserted at the request of DuPage County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom, whose county is facing its own financial crunch and has repeatedly, but so far unsuccessfully, turned to lawmakers for help.
"I thought at least the suburban Republicans would have support of it," said Senate President Emil Jones Jr., a Chicago Democrat.
He later blamed suburban Republicans for the plan's demise.
The odd turn of events Wednesday at the Capitol leaves the future of Chicago area's mass transit in uncertainty. Lawmakers could take up the issue again today when they reconvene, their final scheduled session day before the Jan. 20 doomsday.