From the Indianapolis Business Journal:
A Senate committee Wednesday passed a measure that would give central Indiana residents a chance to vote on whether to pay higher taxes to expand the region’s bus system and add a high-speed rail line.
But lawmakers sent the bill to the Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee to consider the bill’s impact on tax and fiscal issues where it may face tougher going. Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, a member of the committee, recently expressed reservations about the bill and withdrew his sponsorship.
HB 1011 — which passed the Local Government Committee on a 7-2 vote — would let officials in Marion County and neighboring counties decide whether to put a referendum on the ballot asking voters to OK a mass-transit district and a tax increase to pay for it.
The tax increase could be up to 0.3 percentage points and the increase would raise $1.3 billion for more buses, more routes to go more places, and eventually the construction of a light-rail system between downtown Indianapolis and Hamilton County.
Proponents of the system, using $1 million in federal grants, have flooded the region with an advertising and public relations campaign to tout possible benefits of the plan. Some of them spoke at Wednesday's hearing.
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But opponents of the bill are concerned about the potential cost to taxpayers.
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See the full article here:
http://www.ibj.com/mass-transit-bill-leaps-one-hurdle-heads-for-another/PARAMS/article/40294
