The Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber is doing a good job organizing a diverse coalition to support a potential Hamilton County bus-roads tax levy in 2020.

It's encouraging to see some of the regions most prominent liberal, conservative and moderate politicians working together. Cincinnati Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld, state Rep. Tom Brinkman, Mayor John Cranley and Ohio House Majority Floor Leader Bill Seitz are among the politicos backing the effort to put a 1-cent sales tax levy on the ballot.

They cleared a big hurdle this month, when Gov. Mike DeWine signed the transportation budget. It includes legislation allowing Hamilton County to put a levy on the ballot that could fund improvements for public transportation and roads.

The idea: There would be something in the levy for everyone. It would generate about $150 million a year, a portion of which would be used to help improve one of America's worst bus systems. For suburbanites who don't ride the bus, there'd also be money to fix their roads and bridges.

Challenges remain in order for the levy to not only make it onto the ballot, but have a chance of passing. Here's a look at those obstacles:

1. Commissioners aren't supportive.

Many top business leaders, transit activists, City Hall Democrats, Statehouse Republicans and other key players are on board with the levy idea – except the three Democratic county commissioners.

The plan calls for the city's money going to SORTA to be eliminated, shifting all the local funding source to the countywide sale tax (more on that below). Commission President Denise Driehaus opposes that idea.

She believes a one-cent sales tax increase is too high for this. Instead, Driehaus favors an idea that would increase the sales tax by a smaller amount and reduce the city's SORTA funding but not entirely eliminate it. That way, the commissioners would still have flexibility to raise the sales tax for other purposes in the future if necessary.

Todd Portune fancies himself a transit expert, and he has a grander idea for creating a regionwide bus and passenger rail network. It's a great idea, but it's not realistic without first taking incremental steps such as this countywide levy.

Business leaders and City Hall Democrats have been lobbying the commissioners for months to get on board, but county officials aren't budging. It's part of what's causing friction between Mayor Cranley and the commissioners.

Asked if he's optimistic the commissioners will come around, Cranley paused for several seconds and said: "I don’t have an answer for that. We just have to keep trying.”

Commissioners' approval isn't necessary for a levy to move forward. SORTA has the authority to put a levy on the ballot without elected officials' approval.

The city appoints seven of the SORTA board members, a majority. The county appoints the other six, so the board could end up passing a ballot initiative by one vote if the commissioners don't come around.

Could this create a messaging challenge for the levy supporters? It could raise questions for county voters if their SORTA board representatives and the commissioners aren't supportive. And don't forget: County voters outnumber city of Cincinnati voters, and the folks in the townships and villages will decide the fate of a bus levy.

2. City Hall-SORTA streetcar divorce has to happen.

The transit authority runs the city-owned streetcar, which is a public-relations nightmare.

Bus levy supporters says it's a must that SORTA completely wash its hands of streetcar operations in order to improve the agency's perception among suburban voters, who generally see the streetcar as wasteful amusement park ride.

Some levy opponents are already calling it a "streetcar tax," thus the need to get SORTA out of running the rail line.

The city-SORTA streetcar divorce is in the works, and I'm told it will happen this year. It's taking a lot of lawyering to untangle the city-SORTA streetcar operations contract.

3. City earnings tax needs to be repealed.

About half of SORTA's annual $100 million operating budget comes from the city's earnings tax. Some three-tenths of 1% of the city's earnings tax goes to Metro buses, meaning anyone who works in the city – regardless of where they live – helps pay for the system.

It's an antiquated funding model, the only one of its kind in the state. Public transportation systems in all other urban Ohio counties are funded by a countywide tax.

Levy proponents want the SORTA portion of the earnings tax to be eliminated as an incentive to voters. It would avoid doubling taxing people who work in the city and live in Hamilton County. The tax swap is the most critical piece to getting a levy passed, proponents say.

It's why even hard-core fiscal conservatives like state Rep. Brinkman support the idea.

"Get rid of the bus portion of the earnings tax, and I think they’ve got it made," the Mount Lookout Republican told Politics Extra.

Repealing the earnings tax is a two-step process. First, City Council would have to approve putting it on the ballot as a charter amendment, something Councilman Sittenfeld has proposed. City voters then would decide whether to drop the tax, likely in this November's election.

4. Negative perceptions may exist.

Greater Cincinnati hasn't been a transit-friendly place. Unfortunately, many people view the bus system as being only for poor people. Proponents of the idea hope the hybrid levy could help to overcome that negative perception.

Another potential PR problem: City politicians are helping to lead the ballot initiative effort and they're part of an utterly dysfunctional City Hall. Suburbanites are well aware of all the problems on Plum Street – secret text-messaging scandal, shake-down attempts of FC Cincinnati and the endless petty squabbles. Will they view this as a City Hall levy and vote against it?

But City Council wouldn't have any control over the levy money. Seitz worked to make sure the county's nine-member public works integrating committee would control levy money. The committee includes appointees from the county, city and townships.

Voters are going to start hearing a lot about this levy idea in the coming months. My advice: Be sure to ask lots of questions about exactly who would control the money and make decisions on how it's spent.

Subscribe and listen to Jason's That's So Cincinnati podcast on Apple Podcasts. Email: jwilliams@enquirer.com