MADISON, Wis. -- The newly approved regional transit authority is supposed to plan for future transportation of the metro region and raise tax money for it, but there are questions and confusion over exactly who will be covered by the RTA.

After hours of discussion about forming an RTA in Dane County, the county Board of Supervisors voted 20-16 Thursday night in favor of a resolution to create a RTA board without a referendum on whether to increase sales tax to finance the body.

Critics and supporters of the RTA each have their own version of the boundary of the RTA. It doesn't cover all of Dane County, only parts of it, and which parts is the key question.

With the passage of an RTA, anything is possible. Perhaps trains will carry commuters across town; perhaps express buses will, or it might be a combination of both.

But while supporters promote the goal of better transportation for the future, critics are wondering how it's all going to work.

"I don't know how they're going to do it," said Dane County Supervisor Eileen Bruskewitz, who voted against the RTA formation.

Bruskewitz is one of the most vocal opponents of the RTA. She said the RTA and its nine appointed members face problems right out of the gate, from having no budget to confusion over which parts of the county will be part of the RTA's jurisdiction.

As the geography stands now, only some will vote on a potential transit plan -- and sales tax -- even though they might be neighbors.

"You'll have voters on one side of the street and voters on the other side of the street. Sales taxpayers on one side of the street, and non-sales taxpayers on the other side of the street," Bruskewitz said.

Dane County officials agree the RTA boundary will mirror the boundary of the current "Metropolitan Planning Map," a different map already in existence. But the Metropolitan Planning Map cuts some towns in half.

"That is one legal question that still does in fact need to be decided, whether under the RTA whether those towns will be split is a question that really does need to be decided," said Dave Merritt, Dane County director of policy development.

Late Friday the county corporation counsel said state law let those partial towns become fully part of the RTA boundary.

But a state lawyer said that doesn't appear to be the case. Scott Grosz, an attorney with the Wisconsin Legislative Council, said the way the state law on the RTA is written, "it looks like" the RTA lines do split some communities, and that the RTA isn't allowed to pull the rest of them in.

Some estimate that it will be at least a year before there's a possible vote on a transportation plan and half cent sales tax.