Salem and Wheatland have joined the list of Western Kenosha County municipalities that will have a referendum on funding for mass transit on the Nov. 2 ballot.
The Salem Town Board and Wheatland Town Board approved the referendums at their respective regular board meetings Monday night.
The other municipalities that have approved such referendums are: Paddock Lake, Twin Lakes, Randall, Bristol and Silver Lake.
The referendum will ask voters if they support new taxes to support mass transit or rail services.
The municipalities were asked to consider the referendums by state Rep. Samantha Kerkman. Erin Decker, a county supervisor from Silver Lake who tried to get a county-wide referendum approved, has appeared at some of those municipal meetings to advocate for the public votes. Decker’s proposal for a countywide referendum — as Racine County will have – died in committee for lack of a second.
Also on Monday night, the Paris Town Board took a different tack on the transit funding issue. Rather than a referendum, the board, meeting in special session, approved a resolution opposing any new tax to support transit or rail services, such as a sales tax or local vehicle registration fee, in any part of Kenosha County.
