A majority of Town and Country Transit’s municipal board directors approved an annual motion to increase “local match” payments by at least five percent for the fiscal year to offset a percentage of PennDOT
by Jonathan Weaver
Several local communities are preparing to increase their annual fiscal contribution to stay part of a transit agency.
Town and Country Transit General Manager Patti Lynn Baker explained to the municipal officials from East Franklin Township, Ford City Borough, Kittanning Borough, Manor Township, Manorville Borough and West Kittanning Borough that each municipality’s “local match” will increase by this April to accommodate
“By legislation, we’re required to increase our local match by five percent until it reaches 15 percent of the state amount that we’re given. We’ve got quite a ways to go until we hit that,” Baker said.
“We get ‘x’ amount of dollars from the State. For every dollar the municipalities give us, it is somewhere between $11-13 we get back. A dollar goes a long way.”
Applewold Borough and Ford Cliff Borough also have board directors on the transit board, but its officials were absent last week.
“Five percent’s better than 10 or 15 (percent) right now,” Board President Henry Mores said during the meeting after it was approved by all present.
Municipalities are able to separate their payments, as long as they are paid-in-full by June 30, 2018 – the end of the fiscal year. Without that total local match amount, PennDOT would decrease transit funding. The total is primarily geared for fixed-route transportation.
“It’s really imperative that the local municipalities stay involved. Part of the reason we’re doing this now is to give you ample time to present this to your municipalities and get those back to us,” Baker said.
Baker requested the contracts back by April 10 in order for her to submit the transit consolidated operating application within two weeks after it opens.
“We’ve had very good success when we did it that way. It’s a lot easier to get feedback from our people at PennDOT as well,” Baker added. “When we do it that way, we don’t or only have a very limited lapse in our monthly payments.”
For the 2015-16 fiscal year, Town and Country Transit was given $590,000 – an increase of about $12,000 from the previous fiscal year.