Will County Long-Range Transportation Plan

[Pace831]

http://www.willconnects2040.org/uploads/3/4/8/6/34865704/will_connects_2040_public_comment_draft.pdf

Page 26 (pdf page 15) discusses transit.

List of specific priority projects starts on page 40 (pdf page 22).

Also of note is that the Will County Board has been diverting RTA sales tax money for non-transportation purposes.

[Busjack]

18 minutes ago, Pace831 said:

Also of note is that the Will County Board has been diverting RTA sales tax money for non-transportation purposes.

That probably gets down to that 0.25 point of the collar county RTA sales tax (out of a total of 0.75) may be used for transportation or public safety purposes outside of the RTA (70 ILCS 3615/4.03.3(e)). The origin was an end-around of Lake County voters who wouldn't approve a county transportation tax.

At one point a judge wanted to appropriate the money for a new Will County courthouse, but I don't think anything became of that.

My impression of the transit portion is "we'll support what Metra and Pace propose" as opposed to saying "there is a need for---" like they did for either the Illiana Expressway or fixing E-W roads if the expressway doesn't happen.

[Pace831]

21 minutes ago, Busjack said:

That probably gets down to that 0.25 point of the collar county RTA sales tax (out of a total of 0.75) may be used for transportation or police purposes outside of the RTA. The origin was an end-around of Lake County voters who wouldn't approve a county transportation tax.

At one point a judge wanted to appropriate the money for a new Will County courthouse, but I don't think anything became of that.

The courthouse project is still moving forward. The Will County Finance Committee approved the use of RTA funds in March, despite some opposition. (See item #3 in the meeting minutes)

On a related note, a lawsuit involving the RTA sales tax was recently settled.

[Busjack]

24 minutes ago, Pace831 said:

The courthouse project is still moving forward. The Will County Finance Committee approved the use of RTA funds in March, despite some opposition. (See item #3 in the meeting minutes)

The objection at the time was that the judge appeared willing to order it on his own volition. The County Board obviously has the authority to do this, assuming that the courthouse is a public safety function encompassed by the cited part of the RTA Act.

24 minutes ago, Pace831 said:

On a related note, a lawsuit involving the RTA sales tax was recently settled.

This alludes to the Hartney Fuel Co. decision, as it notes that prior collections were allowed, but not in the future. In that light, it is surprising that the RTA got anything.

The article links to another one that points out that Channahon was going to rebate 85% of the sales tax money to the promoter of the point of sale "program," and this article says the settlement comes out of that.