Steve's Blog

On October 3^rd, RTA Chairman Kirk Dillard announced that the agency’s estimated budget gap for 2026 would fall from an estimated $770 million to approximately $200 million “by stretching every dollar, managing costs, applying a reasonable 10% increase to fares, and finding tens of millions in efficiencies… (and) hav(ing) also benefited from increased operating revenue from the RTA sales tax due to a change in state law related to online sales.”

At 2:15 on Halloween morning, the House Democratic Caucus Transit Reform Omnibus bill (SB 2111, HFA #3) passed, which reportedly takes care of the $200 million shortfall with a $2.5 billion fix that makes major changes to the way mass transit is funded and governed. That’s called “overshooting the runway”.

While the bill contains a ton of provisions, I’m going to focus on the things that will be of most interest to the people of McHenry County.

• As far as governance goes, the bill creates the Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA) to replace the RTA. Metra, PACE and the CTA will continue to exist, but will be governed by a new board consisting of 20 members:

• 5 members appointed by the Governor
• 5 members appointed by Chicago
• 5 members appointed by Cook County
• 5 members from the five Collar Counties

And here’s the kicker: a 15-vote majority is needed for the board to pass any measure. So if the Governor’s appointees gang up with the Cook County and City of Chicago members to ram some measure down our throats, we in McHenry County will have no say in the matter.

• The RTA Sales Tax has been increased by 0.25%, from 0.75% in McHenry and the other collar counties to 1%. So instead of sending the RTA $45 million of our hard-earned dollars per year as we do now, we’ll be sending the new NITA Board $60 million per year. And what will we get in return? That’s a topic for a future Reick Report.
• Tollway users weren’t forgotten, either. Tolls will go up by 45 cents per toll for automobiles and 30% for commercial vehicles, to be adjusted every two years by CPI (but it’ll be capped at 4%. Gee, thanks). When asked why the huge increase, the sponsor shrugged and said most of the vehicles on the tollway are just passing through and don’t live in Illinois, so let them eat cake. The Tollway Authority estimates that this will bring in an additional $1.72 billion per year. And don’t forget, there are no toll roads in Chicago, and when you consider the fact that the CTA is really the biggest beneficiary of this bailout, you should be even more chapped off.
• Remember that lockbox we all voted for that was supposed to collect the new gas tax money and all the other taxes we pay on motor fuels and hold it for the purpose of fixing our roads and bridges? Never mind. That was until somebody needed it for something else. Between fund sweeps and interest income diversions, the new NITA region will see a diversion of 85% of the sales tax on motor fuels to it from the Road Fund at the expense of downstate, an estimated loss of road funds to non-NITA counties of an estimated $473 million per year.
• Even though the CTA hasn’t raised fares since 2017, there will be a 1-year moratorium on fare increases to “allow for all the changes to kick in”. So every time you go to the grocery store or fill up your car for the next year, you’ll be subsidizing rides for somebody else on a system that you probably never use.
• Rockford is still on track to get Metra rail service, but Boone and Winnebago Counties will not be included in the new NITA region because all the capital improvements to extend service are paid for by the Capital Development Board and not the RTA or NITA. That means they won’t be called on to beef up suburban representation on the NITA board, and they won’t be subject to the 1% sales tax that we in the NITA region will pay.

When I pointed this out in debate and asked if McHenry County would be extended the courtesy of having a referendum to decide if it wanted to be part of this mess, the answer was “no”, but that we could go to referendum to opt out of NITA. Since the 1974 referendum to join the RTA failed in McHenry County (9% in favor, 91% against) and is no more popular now than it was then, I’m holding out hope that someone may pick up the gauntlet and run with it.