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A group of Twin Cities county commissioners met Wednesday to create a board that will decide how to spend about $1 billion over the next 10 years.

Five metro counties will increase their sales tax by a quarter-cent starting in July.  The newly created board will spend that money on transit projects in the region.

Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin was elected chairman of the new board this morning.

He says it's important for all seven counties to be involved, even though the tax won't be levied in Scott and Carver Counties.

"Scott and Carver anticipated they weren't going to join; they weren't going to be a full part of this," McLaughlin said. "But we want to have their part of their region and have them participating in the discussions, and I think we've reached a consensus on that."

That consensus is to give Scott and Carver non-voting seats on the board. 

The board will eventually decide which new transit projects to fund. That could include the Central Corridor light rail line, a rapid bus transit system in the south metro, and the Northstar commuter rail line.

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Author

Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin will chair a board that will decide how to spend about $1 billion over the next 10 years.

McLaughlin elected chair of new metro transit board

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