A public hearing to discuss the Regional Transport Authority will be held Wednesday night by the Dane County Board of Supervisors to allow the public to voice its opinions on the proposal.

The RTA is a proposal previously discussed and approved by both County Executive Kathleen Falk and Mayor Dave Cieslewicz. If passed, it would establish a regional transit authority that would have the ability to make policies and procedures as well as implement taxation in the Madison area.

Ald. Robbie Webber, District 5, said the RTA is an opportunity for the metropolitan region to pool its resources to pay for transportation on a regional level, versus having each individual municipality pay for itself.

"Right now, the Metro (bus system) is a city utility, and other municipalities, such as Middleton and Verona, who all want service, need to pay Madison the cost of the actual service," Webber said. "The idea is that with an RTA, you have a separate taxing authority that would take that money and distribute it to various modes of transportation."

But the central debate surrounding this proposal is the 1/2-cent increase in sales tax that, according to Dane County Supervisor Jack Martz, would affect many people — especially those living on a fixed income.

"This is going to add an additional burden to [the elderly], and there's a question by many of them whether they would ever use this transportation system, especially the commuter rail," Martz said.

However, Webber said the proposal approved by Falk and Cieslewicz would not immediately create the RTA, but only send a message to the federal government that Madison and Dane County are considering it as an option.

"We're not going to do anything unless we get the OK from … the federal government," Webber said. "We need permission from the state legislation, [and] we need an agreement between all the municipalities for what the governing body is going to look like."

Webber said a countywide referendum is also planned for the RTA proposal. With all these steps yet to take place, she said the RTA would likely not be put into effect for at least two more years.

However, until then, Martz said the public has a desire to voice its opinions, which is the motive behind Wednesday's meeting.

"The reason I'm holding this hearing is because this RTA established by the mayor and county execs has had no public hearing," Martz said. "There are a lot of people who are interested in speaking their mind about what kind of transportation they would like to see. They haven't had a chance, and hopefully, this is an opportunity to voice their opinions."

Three Dane County Supervisors will attend the hearing — Martz, who is from Fitchburg, Gerry Jensen of the Oregon area, and Mike Willet of the Verona area. Webber said representatives from the Metropolitan Planning Organization will also be there, but most likely no one from Madison will attend because the RTA is mainly for small cities and villages located in Dane County, excluding Madison.

"If people have concerns, it's a great opportunity to go, listen and ask questions," Webber said.