Indy council approves transit tax

The Marion County transit system is getting its first major expansion.

The City-County Council on Monday approved a 0.25 percent income tax hike that will pump more than $54 million a year into the county's meager bus service. The money will pay for the construction of three bus rapid transit lines, new buses, increased route frequency and new sidewalks and bus shelters.

The income tax hike, which passed on a 17-8 vote, will take effect in October, costing Marion County residents about $100 per $40,000 of income. IndyGo, the county's transit agency, has said the revenue is necessary to expand a bus system beset with aging buses and low-frequency routes. Most routes end service early in the evenings and offer little, if any, service on Sundays.

Transit supporters shepherded the proposal through a years-long gauntlet that included a new state law, a county-wide voter referendum and, finally, Monday's City-County Council vote.

"It's good to finally be at this point," said Tom Lutholtz, a transit supporter who attended Monday's meeting with his girlfriend, Amy Widiger. "It's been a long, long road."

Lutholtz and Widiger were among dozens of vocal transit supporters who attended Monday's standing-room-only meeting, clad in orange "Transit Drives Indy" shirts. The couple three years ago moved to Indianapolis from Chicago. They recently bought a home in Irvington, in part because of existing bus routes and the promise of improved transportation linking their neighborhood to Downtown.

"We lived in Chicago before. We're used to taking transit in our day-to-day lives," Lutholtz said.

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Several council members who opposed the transit plan said during the meeting that a new tax would hurt low-income residents, while offering no or limited benefits.

"I wish people would quit talking about how this is going to help the poor people," said Councilor Joe Simpson, a Democrat who represents a northern district along College Avenue where a bus rapid transit line is planned. "It's not. I don't see anybody in here that's poor."

Advocates of an expanded Indianapolis transit system spent more than five years campaigning for a new source of revenue, starting with the state legislature. The General Assembly in 2014 passed a bill that allowed six counties, including Marion County, to hold referendums on transit funding.

Marion County held its referendum in November. Nearly 60 percent of voters supported the measure, sending it to the City-County Council.

The council approval will give IndyGo its first major expansion since the transportation agency was created in the 1970s. Yet, some questions remain about how IndyGo's transit plan will proceed.

Marion County is still waiting to learn whether it will receive a $75 million transit grant that was awarded last year under the Obama administration. IndyGo plans to use the grant to pay for most of the first phase of a north-south bus rapid transit route called the Red Line. That line would be followed by two other light rail-type bus lines, called the Purple Line and the Blue Line.

Congress last year failed to approve a budget that included money for the Red Line. The Trump administration and Congress so far have not clarified whether transportation grants awarded last year will be fulfilled.

IndyGo plans to build the bus rapid transit lines regardless of whether it receives federal money for the Red Line. But losing the $75 million grant would push back most planned improvements to the system by three years, delaying expansion of the existing bus routes until 2021 and completion of the overall plan until 2024.

Critics of the transit tax called on the council to postpone a vote until the federal government makes a decision. Simpson proposed delaying the vote until June. His motion failed, 16-9.

Republican Councilor Jeff Miller said the greatest risk facing the county was inaction. Miller, a passionate transit supporter, jokingly apologized in advance in case he broke his green button while voting in favor of the new tax.

"The bottom line," Miller said, "is the cost of doing nothing is so far greater than the risk of doing something."

Call IndyStar reporter James Briggs at (317) 444-6307. Follow him on Twitter: @JamesEBriggs.