|
Special to the Mammoth Times |
|
|
Thursday, 19 June 2008 |
 Eastern Sierra Transit Authority board members met in Bishop on Friday the 13th. MAMMOTH TIMES PHOTOS/SUSAN MORNING
In addition to the skyrocketing fuel costs, the agency is also facing a reduction in public funding.
“The transportation funding coming to Mono County is projected to be at least $60,000 less in the coming year than the prior year,” ESTA Executive Director John Helm told the board at its June 13 meeting in Bishop. “That’s due to a lower amount of sales tax having been collected in this cycle. And while Inyo County’s funding is expected to remain level from the past year, this still represents a significant loss for our operating budget.”
Local Transportation Funds (LTF) are provided to counties to assist with a variety of transit needs. Inyo County is estimated to allocate $596,000 to support ESTA operations for the next fiscal year, Mono County’s LTF allocation for ESTA use is pegged at $202,000 and the Town of Mammoth Lakes is slated to contribute $237,000 to ESTA’s annual budget from this revenue source.
A second source of public transportation funding that has been used in support of the ESTA operation comes from California’s State Transit Assistance (STA). STA money represents a portion of the state’s fuel taxes collected and apportioned to counties based upon population.
In each instance, the overall dollars expected from LTF and STA are less than last year.
The next regular meeting of the ESTA board will be Friday, July 18 in Mammoth Lakes.
“Overall, we’re looking at a [budget deficit] of about $167,000...” Helm said. “Even with some reduction in service, we’ll still need to rely on some of our ‘reserve-funds’ in order to ensure minimal changes in the number and frequency of routes being offered this coming year.”
The elimination of some routes, such as the Lone Pine-Olancha-Keeler fixed-route, which runs twice per week and some curtailment of operational hours on other routes, such as cutting out two hours each day of ESTA service within the Lone Pine community, brought some members of the public out to express their concerns.
Lone Pine resident Roseanne Metcalf addressed the board. “I know an elderly lady that lives in Keeler and she depends on these vans to get to Lone Pine to take care of all her shopping, getting groceries, even doing her laundry. If that’s no longer available to her, I don’t know how she’s going to be able to survive.”
Others spoke not only about their concerns over a loss of service, but also about the lack of public information being provided ahead of time as to what the ESTA board would be dealing with during their meeting.
“I want to tell you, as a disabled person who can’t be driving, it’s really important to keep the buses running,” Lone Pine resident Kathleen Stewart said. “Also, we didn’t even learn this was going to be talked about – or maybe acted upon – until yesterday afternoon. That’s just too short of notice for many people to be here and to speak intelligently about what this means for us.”
“I worry greatly when these proposed service cuts are impacting the very people who need ESTA the most,” ESTA board member and Inyo County Supervisor Linda Arcularius said. “I want to have more data on the implications of any of these suggested cuts.”
Other cuts in service that were brought up included a reduction of shuttle service in the Mono County community of Walker, and cuts in the hours of service for Dial-A-Ride buses serving Bishop and Lone Pine.
Facing the fact that they had to approve the fiscal year budget, the board adopted the cuts in service with the provision that alternative options to extend Lone Pine’s Dial-A-Ride vans be explored to assist with the transportation needs of south Inyo County residents.
Public outreach
“Looking at today’s published agenda for this meeting, I must say it would not be clear to the public that discussions on route cuts would be held – and I apologize to the public for that,” ESTA Board member and Bishop City Councilman Jeff Griffiths said. “We should have done a better job and we will do a better job of community outreach going forward.”
ESTA staff is currently finalizing plans for public outreach meetings to be held in the Bishop and Coleville-Walker communities, ahead of the scheduled board meeting in July.
During those sessions, public comments about proposed changes in ESTA service will be heard, Helm explained, and the information incorporated into the ongoing budget and operational planning for this coming year of service. |
|
Last Updated ( Thursday, 26 June 2008 )
|
