Lawrence residents should throw their support behind efforts to build a major commuter rail project in the Kansas City metro area, City Commissioner Boog Highberger said last week.

Officials with the Mid-America Regional Council are expected to go to state legislators in Kansas and Missouri to ask for the authority to put on the ballot a referendum that would create a new sales tax to finance a commuter rail system.

Mel Henderson, director of transportation for the council, said the sales tax could be as large as a half-percent, but the council was not seeking to have it levied in Douglas County. Highberger, though, said Lawrence residents had a lot to gain from the efforts under way in Kansas City.

If a proposal to establish a commuter bus system between Lawrence and Johnson County is successful, he said a commuter rail system in Kansas City could be a major benefit to Lawrence residents.

“If you could get on a bus and in a half-hour be to a commuter rail site that would get you to downtown Kansas City, it seems like that would be a benefit to a lot of people,” Highberger said. “I think this has the chance to really become a serious regional public transportation system.”

He is asking city commissioners to consider adding the issue to the city’s list of priorities for the 2005 legislative session.

Henderson said the council would welcome the support. The council has been working on the proposal, called Smart Moves, for about three years. This legislative session would mark its first attempt to put the issue on the ballot. The council must receive permission from the Kansas and Missouri legislatures to seek a public vote. Voters would then have to approve the tax before it went into effect.

The council serves as a planning organization for the K.C. metro area. If approved the tax would be levied in eight counties — Leavenworth, Wyandotte and Johnson counties in Kansas, and Platte, Clay, Ray, Jackson and Cass counties in Missouri.

Lawrence city commissioners are expected to finalize their 2005 legislative priorities later this month.