Latest news with #Villivalam
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Illinois tolls could go up by 50 cents in Villivalam's transit proposal
CHICAGO — State lawmakers met Thursday to discuss how to avoid a large public transit budget shortfall and the plan that was discussed could mean toll increases and public charging station fees for electric vehicles. Facing a $770 million budgetary gap in 2026 due to the expiration of Federal COVID-19 grant funding, the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) has warned riders could see significant service cuts soon, if the shortfall is not addressed. Illinois lawmakers debate plan to overcome $770 million CTA budget shortfall On Thursday, State Sen. Ram Villivalam presented a plan to the Senate Transportation Committee that he says could help prevent Chicago-area transit agencies from going over the edge. The proposed legislation would create the Northern Illinois Transit Authority, which would shift oversight of the CTA, Metra and Pace from the Regional Transit Authority to a new 20-member board. IDOT: Drivers taking Kennedy Expressway from downtown to O'Hare can use express lanes again starting Saturday The plan would cover the pending fiscal cliff, but agencies say even more money is needed to make long-term changes to transit systems. The bill, if passed, would also create a unified fare system that would provide unarmed staff for customer service assistance at stations and on trains, and develop a law enforcement task force with a regional safety strategy in mind. The revenue proposals in Villivalam's plan would include toll increases up to 50 cents, a public electric vehicle charging fee of 6 cents per kilowatt hour, and the extension of the Real Estate Transfer Tax and rideshare fee to suburban Cook County and the collar counties. Negotiations on Villivalam's plan are ongoing with some changes possible. State lawmakers now have until Saturday at midnight to pass a transit budget plan, otherwise, service cuts could begin to take place. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Illinois lawmakers debate plan to overcome $770 million CTA budget shortfall
CHICAGO (WGN) — As public transit workers rallied Thursday for quick legislative action to avert a massive fiscal cliff in next year's budget, one of transit reform's lead negotiators, State Sen. Ram Villivalam, presented a plan to the Senate Transportation Committee to avoid sending regional transit agencies over the edge. 'I don't think any of us standing here … can stomach what will happen if we don't act on this,' Villivalam said. The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) faces a $770 million budgetary gap in 2026 due to the expiration of Federal COVID-19 grant funding. If the shortfall is not addressed, the CTA, Metra and PACE could face an estimated 40% cut to services, leading to thousands of employees losing their jobs. Villivalam's proposed legislation would create the Northern Illinois Transit Authority, which would shift oversight of the CTA, Metra and Pace from the Regional Transit Authority to a 20-member board. Illinois' Governor, the Mayor of Chicago and the Cook County Board President would each appoint five members to the board, while collar counties would appoint one board member each. Villivalam's plan would create a unified fare system that provides unarmed staff for customer service assistance at stations and on trains, and develops a law enforcement task force with a regional safety strategy in mind. Importantly, Villivalam said the funding estimates would cover the fiscal cliff, but likely won't amount to the $1.5 billion advocates have been calling for. 'We are happy to see a package that includes revenue, but have major concerns with the revenue proposals in there,' Illinois AFL CIO Frances Orenick said. Those proposals include a tollway surcharge, a public electric vehicle charging fee, and the extension of the Real Estate Transfer Tax and rideshare fee to suburban Cook County and the collar counties. 'This is a billion-dollar bailout for Mayor Brandon Johnson being paid for by suburban taxpayers without giving them a real voice at the table,' State Sen. Don DeWitte said. Villivalam described the fee increases as a shared sacrifice. 'Their job is to do what's needed for the people,' said Tiffany Rebb, a member of ATU Local 241. 'Our job is to commute the people.' Negotiations on Villivalam's plan are ongoing with some changes possible, but the clock is ticking. State lawmakers have until Saturday at midnight to pass a transit budget plan, otherwise, service cuts could begin to take place. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Latest transit proposal would hike tolls, tax ride shares to avoid $771 million fiscal cliff
SPRINGFIELD — After months of negotiations amid warnings of potentially drastic service cuts, Illinois lawmakers on Thursday introduced a bill they said addresses the expected $771 million financial shortfall for Chicago-area public transit with proposals that include a 50-cent hike on Illinois toll roads and an additional tax on ride sharing services. 'The funding mechanism we put forward, with estimates, gets us above the fiscal cliff amount,' Democratic Sen. Ram Villivalam of Chicago, chair of the committee covering transportation, said. 'The goal is to ensure that we're funding a system not for tomorrow, not for next year but for decades to come.' Key labor organizations were quick to question the proposal introduced Thursday in the Senate, citing concerns over the long-term viability of the funding streams. Also voicing opposition were suburban officials who said the bills put the interests of mass transit users, most of them in Chicago, above those of their constituents. Transit agencies have said services would be slashed if legislators don't come up with funding to plug the budget shortfall expected when COVID-19 relief funding runs out at the end of this year. With the spring legislative session set to end this weekend, agencies have said they will need to start planning for those cuts soon, though lawmakers could take up the issue to later in the year. The bill introduced in the Senate on Thursday has similarities with a House proposal a day earlier that include replacing the Regional Transportation Authority with an entity called the Northern Illinois Transit Authority that would be given with broad planning responsibilities. Only the Senate version, however, offered funding proposals. The House version of the bill passed out of the chamber's executive committee by an 8-4 vote on Thursday and was scheduled to go before the full chamber for a vote despite questions about the lack of financing. Concerns also were raised about how the legislation could jeopardize the bonding authority for the Chicago Transit Authority to see through its planned extension of the Red Line. The Senate revenue proposals, which include transit agency staff cuts in addition to an increase on toll roads, would not fully cover the $1.5 billion that some transit advocates say is needed to transform Chicago-area public transportation, Villivalam told reporters, though he later added a final estimate on how much the proposals would raise is not yet known. The legislation did not come to a vote in the Senate committee. The bill would require the revamped transit governing board, NITA, to make cuts that could include layoffs. It mandates $10 million in transit service-related savings and $20.1 million in savings on labor, which the bill suggests would come from changes in employee headcounts and position types. Those changes have previously been suggested by the RTA. A key provision allows the transit board to impose a surcharge of 50 cents on roads operated by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority. The tax would be capped at $1 per vehicle per day, according to the legislation. The bill also includes a 10% tax on rideshare trips in Chicago, suburban Cook County, or the collar counties. The Senate proposal also asks for $16.8 million in savings from property and real estate. The savings would need to be realized in NITA's budget for the fiscal year beginning in October 2026. The bill also includes a real estate transfer tax in the collar counties and suburban Cook County. In Cook County, half of the revenues from that tax would go toward CTA pension payments, with leftover funds going to transit operations. The other half would go toward a fund designed to encourage transit-oriented development that is designed to boost ridership and create walkable communities and commercial corridors. Taxes levied in the collar counties would go entirely toward that development fund. Interest earned on money in the state's road fund would also need to go toward public transit construction projects, according to the bill. Labor leaders argued the funding proposals wouldn't provide long-term security for the transit systems. 'We strongly oppose any transit governance reform legislation that lacks a dedicated and sustainable revenue source,' said Marc Poulos, executive director of the labor-management group for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150. Tim Drea, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO, said in a statement that the two legislative proposals '[kick] the can down the road and [set] our state up for a future fiscal crisis.' The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241, which represents CTA bus operators, opposes the Senate bill. Representatives from the collar counties pushed back against several of the revenue ideas Thursday. 'The Senate plan steals $72 million dollars in DuPage tax revenue, imposes a local real estate transfer tax with no oversight from the County, and taxes suburban commuters,' DuPage County Board Chair Deborah Conroy said in a letter opposing the bill Thursday. 'If passed as written, DuPage County will be forced into massive layoffs, crippling our ability to provide safe streets and neighborhoods for our nearly 1 million residents.' Republican Sen. Donald DeWitte of suburban St. Charles said the Senate bill subsidizes mass transit in Chicago at the expense of the suburbs, citing the tollway tax proposal and other measures. 'The suburbs get taxed, Chicago gets control, and that's outrageous,' he said. Like the House bill introduced Wednesday, the Senate version would remake the board of the RTA, renamed as the NITA, with five appointments from the governor in addition to existing appointments from the mayor of Chicago, the Cook County Board President and the collar counties. The bill also calls for a unified fare system between all Chicago area transit agencies by 2030. In a statement Thursday, RTA spokesperson Tina Fassett Smith said the agency was reviewing the Senate legislation but again stressed the need to get something done soon. 'The region's transit system serves more than 1.2 million rides each day,' Fassett Smith said. 'Having funding certainty by May 31 is essential to ensure CTA, Metra, and Pace can continue to provide safe, reliable, affordable transportation for all.' Representatives for CTA, Metra and Pace did not immediately provide comment Thursday. Funding for the proposed CTA Red Line extension south of 95th Street was one point of discussion in a hearing on the House version of the bill Thursday. The multibillion-dollar project would extend the train line south to 130th Street and add four stations. The project, discussed for more than 50 years, has the potential to be a major investment in the city's Far South Side, even as it has meant acquiring dozens of residents' homes. After Thursday's House hearing, state Rep. Marty Moylan, a Des Plaines Democrat who heads the House Transportation Committee, said the removal of the CTA's bonding authority from the bill was an oversight and should be addressed with another amendment. 'This is a major program that's going to redo the whole face of transit and you've got to look at the greater good, which is we're going to have an operating transit system, which is going to have reforms and operating more efficiently and safe so that people can actually ride the system,' Moylan said of the transit reforms as a whole. Among the issues discussed on the House bill was the proposed system-wide law enforcement task force. Led by the Cook County sheriff's office, the system would also include Metra and Chicago police officers, as well as Illinois State Police personnel. Rep. John Cabello, a Republican from Machesney Park who has also worked as a police detective, said at the hearing he'd prefer to have the task force run by law enforcement throughout the newly-proposal transit system. 'I'd rather have Metra police…take care of the whole thing because their police department goes through the whole of those counties,' Cabello said after the hearing. Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado, a Chicago Democrat and the main House sponsor of the bill, indicated she's open to discussions about that but also noted how the Cook County sheriff's office has relationships outside the county. 'They currently have a relationship with Metra on dispatch and so they have some relationships outside of Cook County and they're centralized in that way,' Delgado said. 'So, that's where the thought process came from.'
Chicago Tribune
6 days ago
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Latest transit proposal would hike tolls, tax ride shares to avoid $771 million fiscal cliff
SPRINGFIELD — After months of negotiations amid warnings of potentially drastic service cuts, Illinois lawmakers on Thursday introduced a bill they said addresses the expected $771 million financial shortfall for Chicago-area public transit with proposals that include a 50-cent hike on Illinois toll roads and an additional tax on ride sharing services. 'The funding mechanism we put forward, with estimates, gets us above the fiscal cliff amount,' Democratic Sen. Ram Villivalam of Chicago, chair of the committee covering transportation, said. 'The goal is to ensure that we're funding a system not for tomorrow, not for next year but for decades to come.' Key labor organizations were quick to question thep proposal introduced Thursday in the Senate, citing concerns over the long-term viability of the funding streams. Also voicing opposition were suburban officials who said the bills put the interests of mass transit users, most of them in Chicago, above those of their constituents. Transit agencies have said services would be slashed if legislators don't come up with funding to plug the budget shortfall expected when COVID-19 relief funding runs out at the end of this year. With the spring legislative session set to end this weekend, agencies have said they will need to start planning for those cuts soon, though lawmakers could take up the issue to later in the year. The bill introduced in the Senate on Thursday has similarities with a House proposal a day earlier that include replacing the Regional Transportation Authority with an entity called the Northern Illinois Transit Authority that would be given with broad planning responsibilities. Only the Senate version, however, offered funding proposals. The House version of the bill passed out of the chamber's executive committee by an 8-4 vote on Thursday and was scheduled to go before the full chamber for a vote despite questions about the lack of financing. Concerns also were raised about how the legislation could jeopardize the bonding authority for the Chicago Transit Authority to see through its planned extension of the Red Line. The Senate revenue proposals, which include transit agency staff cuts in addition to an increase on toll roads, would not fully cover the $1.5 billion that some transit advocates say is needed to transform Chicago-area public transportation, Villivalam told reporters, though he later added a final estimate on how much the proposals would raise is not yet known. The legislation did not come to a vote in the Senate committee. The bill would require the revamped transit governing board, NITA, to make cuts that could include layoffs. It mandates $10 million in transit service-related savings and $20.1 million in savings on labor, which the bill suggests would come from changes in employee headcounts and position types. Those changes have previously been suggested by the RTA. A key provision allows the transit board to impose a surcharge of 50 cents on roads operated by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority. The tax would be capped at $1 per vehicle per day, according to the legislation. The bill also includes a 10% tax on rideshare trips in Chicago, suburban Cook County, or the collar counties. The Senate proposal also asks for $16.8 million in savings from property and real estate. The savings would need to be realized in NITA's budget for the fiscal year beginning in October 2026. The bill also includes a real estate transfer tax in the collar counties and suburban Cook County. In Cook County, half of the revenues from that tax would go toward CTA pension payments, with leftover funds going to transit operations. The other half would go toward a fund designed to encourage transit-oriented development that is designed to boost ridership and create walkable communities and commercial corridors. Taxes levied in the collar counties would go entirely toward that development fund. Interest earned on money in the state's road fund would also need to go toward public transit construction projects, according to the bill. Labor leaders argued the funding proposals wouldn't provide long-term security for the transit systems. 'We strongly oppose any transit governance reform legislation that lacks a dedicated and sustainable revenue source,' said Marc Poulos, executive director of the labor-management group for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150. Tim Drea, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO, said in a statement that the two legislative proposals '[kick] the can down the road and [set] our state up for a future fiscal crisis.' The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241, which represents CTA bus operators, opposes the Senate bill. Representatives from the collar counties pushed back against several of the revenue ideas Thursday. 'The Senate plan steals $72 million dollars in DuPage tax revenue, imposes a local real estate transfer tax with no oversight from the County, and taxes suburban commuters,' DuPage County Board Chair Deborah Conroy said in a letter opposing the bill Thursday. 'If passed as written, DuPage County will be forced into massive layoffs, crippling our ability to provide safe streets and neighborhoods for our nearly 1 million residents.' Republican Sen. Donald DeWitte of suburban St. Charles said the Senate bill subsidizes mass transit in Chicago at the expense of the suburbs, citing the tollway tax proposal and other measures. 'The suburbs get taxed, Chicago gets control, and that's outrageous,' he said. Like the House bill introduced Wednesday, the Senate version would remake the board of the RTA, renamed as the NITA, with five appointments from the governor in addition to existing appointments from the mayor of Chicago, the Cook County Board President and the collar counties. The bill also calls for a unified fare system between all Chicago area transit agencies by 2030. In a statement Thursday, RTA spokesperson Tina Fassett Smith said the agency was reviewing the Senate legislation but again stressed the need to get something done soon. 'The region's transit system serves more than 1.2 million rides each day,' Fassett Smith said. 'Having funding certainty by May 31 is essential to ensure CTA, Metra, and Pace can continue to provide safe, reliable, affordable transportation for all.' Representatives for CTA, Metra and Pace did not immediately provide comment Thursday. Funding for the proposed CTA Red Line extension south of 95th Street was one point of discussion in a hearing on the House version of the bill Thursday. The multibillion-dollar project would extend the train line south to 130th Street and add four stations. The project, discussed for more than 50 years, has the potential to be a major investment in the city's Far South Side, even as it has meant acquiring dozens of residents' homes. After Thursday's House hearing, state Rep. Marty Moylan, a Des Plaines Democrat who heads the House Transportation Committee, said the removal of the CTA's bonding authority from the bill was an oversight and should be addressed with another amendment. 'This is a major program that's going to redo the whole face of transit and you've got to look at the greater good, which is we're going to have an operating transit system, which is going to have reforms and operating more efficiently and safe so that people can actually ride the system,' Moylan said of the transit reforms as a whole. Among the issues discussed on the House bill was the proposed system-wide law enforcement task force. Led by the Cook County sheriff's office, the system would also include Metra and Chicago police officers, as well as Illinois State Police personnel. Rep. John Cabello, a Republican from Machesney Park who has also worked as a police detective, said at the hearing he'd prefer to have the task force run by law enforcement throughout the newly-proposal transit system. 'I'd rather have Metra police…take care of the whole thing because their police department goes through the whole of those counties,' Cabello said after the hearing. Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado, a Chicago Democrat and the main House sponsor of the bill, indicated she's open to discussions about that but also noted how the Cook County sheriff's office has relationships outside the county. 'They currently have a relationship with Metra on dispatch and so they have some relationships outside of Cook County and they're centralized in that way,' Delgado said. 'So, that's where the thought process came from.'
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Editorial: Believe it or not, Springfield is mulling a jobs tax
In a state where one of the only job sectors that's growing is the government, it's a terrible idea to implement a new tax that hits private-sector employers and workers hard. That's what the payroll tax being considered in Springfield would do. State Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, wants to adopt a state payroll tax to do something that sounds good — cover paid family and medical leave. Called the Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program Act, Villivalam's legislation would impose a new tax based on a worker's wages and would be withheld automatically from paychecks, just like Social Security and Medicare. Both the employee and the employer would have to contribute toward this payroll tax. Last month, the state Senate extended the normal deadline for considering the bill, suggesting there's some momentum. Revenue from the program, which would impose a 1.12% tax on paychecks (paid in part by the employee and in part by the employer), would fund benefits in a state-managed paid leave program, giving workers up to 18 weeks of paid family/medical leave each year, plus up to nine extra weeks for pregnancy. The tax would take effect Jan. 1, 2027, for employers with 25 or more workers. Initially, the tax would apply at companies employing at least 25 people, but by 2029 all employers, no matter how small, would be affected. Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, as with all new taxes, this one is all but sure to rise with time. Consider Minnesota, which is launching its own leave program and payroll tax. In 2023, legislators enacted a 0.7% payroll tax to take effect in 2026. The tax hasn't even hit employers yet, but lawmakers already have boosted the rate to 0.88% since then. If times were better in Illinois, a proposal like this might be worth considering, given the struggles new parents face. It's especially egregious that many women, lacking federal paid leave or job protection, are forced to return to work just a few weeks after giving birth — or risk losing their jobs. But times aren't good, not for the state's economy or its finances — which continue to be plagued by $144 billion in pension debt and yearly budget deficits. There's already a major jobs issue in Illinois, where private-sector job creation is virtually stagnant. As of the end of last year, Illinois gained a net 32,000 nonfarm jobs since the end of 2019, just before the pandemic. But 73% of them were government jobs. That's not a recipe for a strong economy. A state payroll tax would punish businesses for … hiring people, something we desperately need them to do. While intended to help workers afford time off for health and family reasons, it would increase the cost of hiring and maintaining jobs here and expose both employers and employees to future tax hikes if the program runs deficits. In other words, it's possible that the Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program Act could lead to fewer workers around to take advantage of paid leave. The last thing Illinois should be doing right now is creating new disincentives to hiring. Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@
