Transit authority running in the red

The Cape Girardeau County Transit Authority faces being thousands of dollars in the red as fuel prices have risen sharply and funding for other programs has been running out.

The transit authority, in information provided to the Cape Girardeau City Council in March, budgeted the fuel cost for the bus system alone at $3 per gallon. Transit authority buses get six miles to the gallon and drive 2,400 miles per week. The total cost allotted for the bus system was $62,400. The working budget for fiscal year 2008 shows total authority fuel costs for all its services were set at $150,000.

Tom Mogelnicki, executive director for the transit authority, was unable to provide the Southeast Missourian with a line-item budget to confirm those numbers or the dates defining the authority's fiscal year.

However, fuel prices have risen substantially in Missouri since January, and the authority is not sure how to respond.

"We don't know yet," Mogelnicki said on how he plans to address the issue. He said he would be "looking at other avenues" to figure out a solution.

The working budget for fiscal year 2008 plans for a net loss of $48,977.37.

John Richbourg, an ex officio member of the transit authority's board and the financial director for Cape Girardeau, provided updated figures, saying Thursday the transit authority saw a net loss of roughly $103,000 in the first six months of fiscal year 2008. However, the document cited was not provided to the Southeast Missourian to confirm that figure.

Another transit authority board member, Donna Oldham, could not confirm that number and did not feel it was her place to comment on it. Doug Richards, the chairman of the transit authority board, could not be reached for comment.

The high cost of fuel is not the only financial difficulty facing the transit authority. The funding for a popular senior-citizen coupon program is projected to run out by the beginning of August. Mogelnicki attributes the problem to a rise in popularity, not a rise in fuel prices.

The service allows seniors to purchase $3 coupons for the transit authority's point-to-point taxi service called Demand Response; with that coupon they have a one-way ticket to any destination in Jackson or Cape Girardeau.

The Senior Citizens Services Fund Board sponsored by the county provided $45,000 for the coupon service for the 2008 fiscal year. The funding was expected to last the calendar year but, according to Mogelnicki, has been used up at a rate of roughly $7,000 per month.

Mogelnicki also hopes to expand the authority's bus system within Cape Girardeau. He commented briefly on plans for a third route that would provide service to Cape Meadows apartments and then come back down Sprigg Street.

He also wants to modify the existing routes to have two buses to run every 30 to 40 minutes. The existing bus system has one bus for each of its two routes, but it takes one bus roughly 75 to 80 minutes to complete the route.

But Mogelnicki was not yet sure where to find all the future funding.

The transit authority already receives funding from a variety of public sources, according to the budget for 2008, including an additional $55,000 from the Senior Citizens Services Fund Board as a general transit authority subsidy.

Cape Girardeau provided $109,880 to the transit authority in fiscal year 2008 and has plans to provide another $110,000 next year.

Initially the city council agreed to provide $89,880 to the authority in fiscal year 2008 with an additional $20,000 after the authority had proved its financial integrity and how many people were benefiting from the service, according to Cape Girardeau Mayor Jay Knudtson.

Knudtson said "the council is very pleased" with its relationship with the authority. However, he was hesitant to make any further financial commitment to the authority without specific details. But he did not rule out funding for an additional route.

"If that were to occur in Cape Girardeau, it would only make sense for us to provide money," Knudtson said.

Jackson provides $6,750 annually to the transit authority for the Demand Response taxi system and the authority's free service for disabled residents and seniors. Jackson Mayor Barbara Lohr said she was unwilling to make further financial commitments to the transit authority without knowing specific plans the authority had for Jackson.

Other funding in the 2008 budget for the transit authority comes from the Cape Girardeau County Commission ($70,000), multiple MoDOT grants (totaling $482,589) and advertising (roughly $16,000, according to Mogelnicki). Bus fares and passes account for $18,866 in the 2008 budget. The remaining funding comes from $625,062.63 in unspecified service contracts and $5,000 in donations.

Riders of the fixed-route bus system expressed willingness for fares to rise if it were to pay for rising fuel costs and keep the system running.

"They should raise it," said Keri Acevedo, who said she uses the bus four or five times per week. "You would think they would have done it by now."

One-way fares on the bus system are $1.50 for adults and 75 cents for seniors, students and children ages 6 to 12.

tthomas@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 197

Does this affect you?

Have a comment?

Log on to semissourian.com/today