To keep Durango Transit operating, the Durango City Council could have to cut service, increase fares and ask votes to reallocate sales taxes.
State and federal grants that have been keeping the department running will likely drop off significantly in 2017 because the programs have been restructured or they have ended, Transportation and Sustainability Director Amber Blake told the City Council on Tuesday.
If nothing changes, the department’s savings could drop to $300,000 by 2020, Blake said. She also laid out all the options to save money and raise new revenue ahead of the council’s retreat on March 18.
“I think finding sustainable funding for transit has got to be one of the key policy things we address,” Councilor Dick White said.
Raising fares to ride the buses or parking rates couldn’t solve the budget shortfalls alone, but it could be part of funding puzzle, Blake said.
Neither solution seemed popular with councilors.
Councilor Sweetie Marbury, a critic of the 2015 Trolley fair, seemed to reject fare increases.
“People that ride the trolley make less than $25,000 a year,” she said.
Blake also introduced the idea of asking voters to reallocate part of the 2005 quarter-cent tax to support transit and charging developers of commercial developers a one-time transit fee.
The council seemed to open to considering a new use for the sales tax, which funds open-space preservation, stewardship and the development and maintenance of parks and trails.
They also seemed to back a $55,000 study that would examine how much new commercial activity leading to additional jobs could justify a fee for transit uses. It could also determine how much new housing is needed to support the new business, said Phillip Supino, a city planner.
The study would also provide a legal basis for the fee, he said.
The study would require a formal vote of the council.
To cut expenses, Blake also suggested the city consider cutting the route to Mercy Regional Medical Center, Saturday loop bus service or all weekend service because these the routes that cost the most per trip.
Three Springs is growing fast, and new employers will hopefully move to Wilson Gulch Road when it is complete so the area will need transit service, said City Manager Ron LeBlanc.
But with the loss of so much grant funding, new solutions have to be considered.
“We are probably going to look at fee increases and service cuts,” he said.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
This story has been updated to correct the level of the 2005 sales tax.
