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For an overview Illinois FIRST of see Public Works
> Illinois
FIRST
What Role does the Regional Transportation
Authority Play in Illinois FIRST?
RTA, the Regional Transportation Authority, is the
fiscal oversight body for all three of the
Chicago region's transit agencies serving northeastern
Illinois: Metra (the commuter rail system), Pace (suburban
bus system) and CTA, the Chicago Transit Authority.
RTA borrows capital funds on behalf of all three,
sometimes referred to by RTA as the "transit service
boards." Illinois FIRST will help RTA financially
- and thus help the CTA -- in three ways:
- Illinois FIRST authorizes the RTA to borrow
up to $1.6 billion over the next five years.
RTA will pay off those bonds with the share of State
sales tax money it already receives. (Note: Illinois
FIRST did NOT increase the amount of state sales
tax that transit agencies get.)
- Secondly, the State will use part of the
new Illinois FIRST tax revenues to pay the interest
on $1.3 billion of RTA's bonds, making it
cheaper for RTA to borrow money. Imagine that
your favorite uncle paid the interest on your home
mortgage! Your out-of-pocket payments would be lower,
so you could even afford to borrow more for the
same monthly mortgage payment. In this case, RTA
in effect will have more money to help CTA, Metra,
and Pace pay for actual repairs or upgrades of their
systems, with less of their sales tax resources
going toward interest payments.
- Finally, Illinois FIRST helps CTA because
the money that RTA will borrow is the 20% "local
match" the CTA needs to get its Federal transit
capital grant requests approved.
Example: CTA says it will cost approximately $482
million to rebuild the Cermak/Douglas branch of its
Blue Line. CTA can qualify for up to 80%, or $385
million, in federal grant funds, but had to show it
has the other 20% from "local" funds. RTA will provide
CTA with the 20% from the bonds it is now issuing
since Illinois FIRST was passed. In the Fall of 1999
CTA got a "Full Funding Grant Agreement" with the
Federal Transit Administration (the transit branch
of the U.S. Dept. of Transportation), after Congress
approved the project and after Illinois FIRST was
in place, enabling RTA to guarantee the 20% local
match.
The reconstruction of the CTA Cermak/Douglas Branch
of the Blue Line began a year ago. When the CTA first
announced its plan to renovate the Douglas line in
1995, the price tag was going to be $180 million,
but has now escalated to $482 million. Moving into
2003, the CTA is focusing on getting Federal approval
for a Full Funding Grant Agreement for the renovation
of the Brown Line (Ravenswood L). The price tag for
this project has also escalated dramatically over
the years, to an estimate of $400 million in CTA's
proposed 2003 budget.
The higher fees and taxes voted into place by the
Illinois General Assembly in 1999 will stay in place
to allow the State to pay off its obligations under
Illinois FIRST. That will take another 20 years.
Will there be an Illinois FIRST -
Part II??
Now that the dollars produced by the Illinois FIRST
package are allocated to specific projects, and long
before they are fully paid out, public transit agencies
will face another crisis: Will there be State funding
to provide future local matches? The capital improvement
needs of CTA, Metra, and Pace have not all been met
by Illinois FIRST. CTA alone says it has nearly $2
billion in unfunded capital improvement needs. And
that is just to return the current system to a state
of good repair, and does not reflect the cost of expanding
the reach of bus and rail service to serve all our
neighborhoods or suburbs.
By the beginning of 2004, the State will have to
find the political will and the financial means to
make ongoing investments in public transportation.
Given the $2.5 billion deficit in the State of Illinois
budget in 2002, the challenges ahead for transit are
daunting. At the same time that the State will be
faced with addressing transit's future, the U.S. Congress
will be finalizing the task of renewing the federal
funding package for the nation's transportation systems.
The Congressional debate over the re-authorization
of the "Transportation Equity Act for the 21st
Century" ("TEA 21"), which provided the lion's share
of transit capital funds since 1998, begins in earnest
in March 2003, and may be resolved by the end of 2003.
For more on Illinois FIRST and Federal Funding,
go to the Campaign for Better Transit website, www.bettertransit.com.
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