Logan County Board hears request for financing of Logan Mason Public Transportation

[May 16, 2017]  LINCOLN - At the Logan County Board Workshop on Thursday, May 11, board members discussed a request from the Community Action Board to help the Logan/Mason Public Transportation with funding.

Last Tuesday, members of the board's finance committee heard from Community Action Executive Director Alison Rumler-Gomez, LMPT Transportation Director DiAnne Turner, and Community Action board member Andy Anderson about the need for funding.

At next Tuesday's Regular board meeting, the board will vote on a motion by Finance Committee Chairman David Hepler for authorization to borrow money for Logan Mason Public Transportation.

Andy Anderson said when Community Action first got the grant to run the on-demand service, they could do it by themselves for about three-and-a-half years with no issues."

Anderson said now that the program has grown at the board's request, the upfront costs have gotten to a point where Community Action "can no longer afford the upfront costs by themselves." He said there have been instances where they have been "a little over $200,000 in arrears."

Anderson said they are asking the board for $120,000 to help fund these upfront costs. He said without more money, the flex route would end at the end of June.

Board Chairman Chuck Ruben said the board will likely be voting to keep "as is." If it was voted down, LMPT would go back to "on-demand only" and there would be a reduction in services.

Ruben said there have been repeated times when it looked like the grant was not coming and he is concerned about the debt that could accrue.

Bateman said the board voted to grow the program, and he feels "if we cut back, that is going to kill the program totally because we'll never get it back."

Bateman said he understands Ruben's concerns and suggested a "cap" on a "rolling appropriation loan." Bateman said if the rolling appropriation was $120,000 and the state payment did not come causing them to have to borrow more to keep it going, he would like to cap it at $220,000. He wants to limit the county's liability.

Hepler asked if they were securing $120,000.

Program Compliance Oversight Monitor Brenda Clark said the resolution is written for $120,000 as a line of credit, so if the program runs a little short, they "may have to pull $20,000 out of it." These funds would help them get through until the next grant payment.

Anderson said the insurance on the new vehicles has gone up $80,000. He recalled when serving on the Logan County Board, he "took pride in the fact that somehow someway we always came up with the money when someone needed something" and hoped that would continue.

Bateman asked about the possibility of cancelling or lowering insurance premiums on spare vehicles and then bring it back up when they go into service. He asked if they could return some vehicles to save money.

Rumler-Gomez said the insurance provider told her it would be difficult to do that "while in possession of the vehicles." If they returned some vehicles to IDOT, those could be pulled from the policy. Rumler-Gomez said the county would have to decide whether to return them.

The board will vote Tuesday whether to approve the resolution.

[Angela Reiners]