Santa Fe County Commissioner Jack Sullivan succeeded Tuesday in buying the county more time to consider its public transportation needs before asking the public to approve a new tax to pay for them.

The North Central Regional Transit District, of which Santa Fe County is a member, has already developed a service plan outlining potential bus routes for Santa Fe, Taos, Los Alamos and Rio Arriba counties. And the Transit District has already decided to ask voters to pass a one-eighth percent gross-receipts tax to pay for them.

But Sullivan said the plan was premature because it was developed before the Rail Runner commuter train become a major factor in Santa Fe County's public-transportation scenario. If the Department of Transportation succeeds next year in imposing a mandatory tax on Santa Fe County to pay for the operation of the Rail Runner, he said, county residents would be double taxed for transportation services.

City of Santa Fe Mayor David Coss supported Sullivan's argument. "The timing is just wrong on this," Coss said. "We're just not ready. We don't have a plan for public transit that includes the Rail Runner. ... I would like to see that addressed as part of the equation, and I don't think that has happened."

Because the transit district as a whole had already approved the service plan, Santa Fe County faced the choice of going along and asking voters to approve the one-eighth percent tax or dropping out of the district.

Sullivan had proposed the latter option Tuesday, but county land-use administrator Jack Kolkmeyer suggested the county try to reach a new agreement before the November election.

Kolkmeyer said a task force that includes members of the state Department of Transportation could help clarify how much money the county needs for transit and how the routes should be structured.

Transit Director Josette Lucero agreed to Kolkmeyer's proposal saying the transit district would participate if it could be done in 30 days. Ideally, she said, the issue would be settled in time to present something to voters in November. Lucero said she came to the meeting ready to "say something else" about Sullivan's threat to withdraw from the district but changed her mind. "I can totally understand their position," Lucero said. "I agree that the parties needed to come together months ago."

Why didn't it happen before?

"We didn't know until January that DOT was proposing (a transit tax)," she said.

Sullivan said he was pleased with the outcome of the meeting. "We impressed upon the (transit district) that we need a combined plan that would consider the connecting of routes to the Rail Runner and get a buy in from the Governor's Office and DOT so we don't battle a second tax," he said. "This is a real opportunity to plan for transport."

But, Sullivan said, if the last-minute effort to form a new plan doesn't work, he will reintroduce the idea of withdrawing from the transit district. "This does not remove the withdrawal at all," he said. "In fact, it strengthens it. If we haven't worked out an agreement in 30 days, I'll come right back here, and I think the votes are there."

Contact Phaedra Haywood at 986-3068 or phaywood@sfnewmexican.com.