Friday, March 12, 1999
Panel's mission: Funding rail line
Some form of local tax needed
BY TANYA ALBERT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Residents could vote on whether to pay for a part of the $600 million light rail system proposed along the Interstate 71 corridor as soon as spring 2001.
But before any requests go on the ballot, transportation planners have to figure out who would pay for the proposed 16-mile system, and how.
Board members of the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI) took another step Thursday toward answering those questions. They voted to create a committee to look at taxing options and at who would manage the regional system.
“It's an umbrella committee to look at issues others aren't asked to look at,” said Bernie Moorman, chairman of OKI's Interstate 71 Corridor Oversight Committee.
“This will start the discussions of those issues,” added Warner Moore, the I-71 committee's project manager for OKI.
Some of the questions that need to be answered:
• What counties and cities should pay for the system proposed from 12th Street in Covington to Pfeiffer Road in Blue Ash?
• Should gas taxes, property taxes, sales taxes or a combination of the three pay for the system?
• Who will run the regional system? What is the best way to create a truly regional transit authority?
This week, the area's largest transit operators — the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) and the Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky (TANK) — created an umbrella agency that could operate the proposed two-state system.
• What's the best way to educate the public on why they should vote to pay for the first phase of the system?
The I-71 corridor, which
could eventually run between the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport and Paramount's Kings Island, is just the first mass transit line being proposed. Eastern and western lines and a line along Interstate 75 are also being talked about.
Finding local money for the first system is critical.
“We can't get state and federal funds until the local dollars are committed,” said OKI President Sterling Uhler.
And that money would pay for the majority of the system. If the first phase is built, about 50 percent of the money would come from federal dollars. About 25 percent would come from Ohio and Kentucky and another 25 percent from local money.
Preliminary engineering studies are under way. After those are done in late 2000 or early 2001, OKI will take a final vote on whether to build the system or abandon the idea.
“We could see the bulldozers starting in three years,” Mr. Uhler said.
He plans to appoint members to the committee by May.
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Panel's mission: Funding rail line
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