Round Lake Beach
Round Lake Beach, IL · Traffic & Transit
The Center Square
New transit authority unveils $5B budget mixing cuts, more spending
(The Center Square) – The newly-formed Northern Illinois Transit Authority is engaging with counties, public transit riders and transit experts to pass its proposed $5.04 billion budget for the upcoming year. NITA is composed of transit organizations that serve Chicago and the city’s suburbs, including the Chicago Transit Authority, Pace bus system and Metra commuter rail network. The organization was created earlier this year as part of a broader effort to increase funding for public transit statewide. Compared to the proposed NITA budget, the RTA’s last budget was $4.35 billion this year. In a presentation at the NITA Board of Directors meeting Thursday, interim Chief Financial Officer Tom McKone explained the purpose of the larger budget and where the taxpayer funds will come from. “It's a balanced budget, a total of $5 billion,” McKone said. “The total region-wide revenues. Those are comprised of the NITA sales tax, along with system-generated revenues and about 30% of it coming from the State of Illinois sources.” McKone said that despite the increased total budget, the underlying agencies have found ways to get more out of existing services while spending less, beyond what was already required to be identified by the act creating NITA.
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