Members of the Wisconsin state Legislature voted to move discussion of a Regional Transit Authority to the entire legislative body at a Joint Legislative Council meeting Thursday.

If approved, the RTA would provide a commuter bus that would circle the outskirts of county communities as well as a new commuter rail system which would run throughout metropolitan areas.

At the meeting, Sen. Julie Robson, D-Beloit, chair of the RTA study committee, said for the RTA to be initiated, it must gain approval from the county in which the municipality is located. However, she added there is certainly controversy regarding the taxation and funding of the RTA.

“RTA would be allowed to tax up to a half percent of sales tax in Wisconsin and its RTA jurisdictional area,” she said. “Local government can contribute funding to the RTA and the RTA may issue bonds, although no local unit of government is forced to pay back bond issued by the RTA.”

Rep. Robin Vos, R-Racine, member of the RTA study committee, said the committee came to the wrong conclusion regarding the RTA bill.

With the RTA, Vos said the Regional Taxing Authority can either apply the new revenues toward reducing property taxes or keeping property tax levels stable, but people in the community will be forced to pay a sales tax for the service. Government could then use the excess money from the property tax on new spending units outside spending revenue limits.

Rep. Alvin Ott, R-Forest Junction, chair of the RTA study committee, expressed his support for the RTA at the meeting.

A sales tax levy situation may be an option for local municipalities, Ott said, adding southeastern Wisconsin and Dane County had local transit issues which could be solved by the RTA.

However Vos said the weight of the RTA cost will lie on consumers.

“We don’t have enough money to fund transportation today,” Vos said.

He said local communities would rather use transportation funding to fix potholes.

Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, said she supports the RTA bill moving to the Legislature for debate because she hopes to have the RTA taken out of the state budget. She added the RTA should be debated and looked at in a broad context instead of just in the bill.

“We need to engage the Legislature in huge policy decisions, especially when they relate to tax dollars,” Darling said. “There are a lot of things in this initiative that I do not support.”

Metro Transit General Manager Chuck Kamp said the council took part in an “encouraging vote” to move forward with the RTA bill.

“As a member of the study committee that put together the last bill, I believe it provides flexible models throughout different communities throughout the state of Wisconsin to provide RTA and improve transit services to many communities,” Kamp said. “This will be an important tool for communities to use in coming decades.”

— Matt Tanger contributed to this report.