Sta Considers Smaller Cuts In Service Windfall From State Provides Transit Agency With Some ‘One-Time Relief’

Spokane Transit Authority board members played a numbers game Wednesday, looking for ways to minimize layoffs and cuts in service without falling into a budget hole.

During a workshop session, STA staff gave the board several options for addressing revenues lost to state Initiative 695, which wiped out the excise tax drivers had paid to license their vehicles.

Revenue from those taxes had made up 40 percent of STA’s operating budget. The transit agency had planned to cut 20 percent of its spending for the next four years, using money from its reserves to balance its budget.

But the state recently sent the transit system $4.4 million in motor vehicle excise taxes, and another $3.2 million is expected this spring. STA officials had drafted their 2000 budget without those dollars because they feared they wouldn’t get the money.

The windfall will boost STA’s reserves from $38 million to nearly $46 million.

It also gives the transit system flexibility to consider less-sweeping cuts, Executive Director Allen Schweim said. “But this is one-time relief,” he said, adding that the dollars will be the last from the motor vehicle excise tax.

Transit planner Connie Brady told the board about a revised proposal that would cut service by 16 percent for four years, as opposed to the original plan to cut 20 percent. The new proposal would keep buses running later at night than the first plan would.

With the help of a computerized graph projected onto an overhead screen, STA’s financial gurus plugged in numbers to show the effects of several scenarios: Making no cuts and blowing through the reserves. Making a 16 percent cut. Or making the entire 40 percent cut right away.

From there, they added money from hypothetical sources, such as a sales tax increase or extra dollars from the state Legislature, to see the effect on revenues.

The colorful, ever-changing graph gave the board snapshots of the transit system’s possible financial future, with several members commenting they understand things much better now than in the past.

“It’s kind of mind-boggling to be able to do this,” said Spokane city Councilwoman Phyllis Holmes, STA chairwoman.

Curt Volesky, head of the transit union that includes bus drivers and maintenance workers, suggested the board take the no-cuts option, balancing the budget with reserves for at least two years. By then, voters would be more likely to approve a tax increase, he said.

But county Commissioner Kate McCaslin, an STA board member, cautioned against that approach.

“The danger in this scenario is if we don’t get voter approval, we’ll have to take all those cuts (at one time),” McCaslin said. “If we think the hearings were ugly before, just wait.”

The board plans to consider its options until Wednesday, when it plans to make a decision on service cuts.

This sidebar appeared with the story:

New STA budget plan

Thanks to a funding windfall from the state, the Spokane Transit Authority may make fewer cuts than originally planned.

The new plan proposes:

Discontinuing the No. 82 Greenacres route.

Discontinuing the No. 62 Medical Lake Express route on Saturdays, Sundays and late nights.

Reducing weekday service to every 30 minutes between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on the City Loop (routes No. 22 Northwest Boulevard, No. 33 Wellesley and No. 44 29th Avenue.)

Reducing weekday service on all routes to hourly after 6:30 p.m. except the No. 25 Division and No. 90 Sprague, which would run every 20 minutes.

Reducing Saturday service to hourly on all routes except the No. 25 Division and the No. 90 Sprague. The No. 61 U.S. Highway 2 bus would run every two hours.

Reducing weekday hours from 5:30 a.m. to 12:15 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. The last fixed-route buses would leave the STA Plaza at 10:20 p.m.; the last paratransit pickup would be at 10 p.m.

Reducing Saturday service from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. The last fixed-route buses would leave the STA Plaza at 8:20 p.m.; the last paratransit pickup would be at 8 p.m.

Reducing Sunday service from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. The last fixed-route buses would leave the STA Plaza at 6:20 p.m.; the last paratransit pickup would be at 6 p.m.