Madison's City Council considered an advisory resolution tonight regarding Madison Metro's proposed bus increases. The resolution, sponsored by Alders Golden, Sanborn, and Radomski, asked Council members to advise the Transit and Parking Commission (TPC) by choosing one of the following two options:

Suggestions were made during this time for revenue sources. Possibilities suggested by the public included shifting funding priorities in general, moving funds allocated for road expansion, and my own suggestion of increasing fines for parking tickets by 15% which would more than fill the revenue gap without impact on taxes.

The Council discussed their options at great length with numerous proposed amendments to the resolution. The first motion voted upon was to approve Option 1, and this motion failed 5-12 (3 alders absent). The next motion to be voted upon was Option 2 with two amendments. The first amendment, proposed by Alder Konkel, asked that the TPC also provide a report to the Council regarding what it would take to have future fare increase considerations take place in the context of the city budget. The second amendment, made by Alder King, reduced the amount sought by $100,000. Again, the motion failed, this time 8-9. The final failed motion was for option 2 with Alder Konkel's amendment. This motion failed 10-7. One other amendment proposed earlier by Alder Compton contained vague language about minimizing impact for low-income people with no definition of what this would mean also did not pass.

The end result is no advice for the TPC who meets tomorrow night at 5:00 pm. If our elected representatives could not reach a conclusion on these fare increases, is it fair to ask a citizen committee to do so?

The TPC has a few options tomorrow. They can adopt a fare increase structure that fills the gap, consider services cuts, seek alternate revenue streams, or simply choose not to act by adopting none of these options.

If the TPC does not approve a fare increase or service cut, it may force the Common Council to come to some resolution by considering Madison Metro within the context of the city's budget as it does for all other city departments. Currently, Metro's budget is being looked at in a vaccuum separate from and prior to rest of the budget.