PORT ANGELES — The Clallam Transit board has approved a 2017 budget with $10.2 million spending authority for operations and capital projects.
The budget shows $8.98 million in operating revenue with “conservative” sales tax projections and $8.73 million in operating expenses, Clallam Transit General Manager Wendy Clark-Getzin said Thursday.
The $246,000 variance would be added to a $3.76 million reserve that Clallam Transit will use to help pay for a major fleet replacement in the coming years, Clark-Getzin said Thursday.
No members of the public testified on the budget before it was adopted by unanimous vote Monday.
Clark-Getzin said the board was “very pleased” with the conservative projections for sales tax revenue.
“We rely on sales tax for 78 percent of our overall revenue,” she added.
Clallam Transit System, or CTS, expects to collect $6.99 million from sales taxes in 2017.
That’s nearly 3.4 percent less than the $7.24 million it collected this year.
“Although CTS has experienced higher than usual sales tax revenue in 2016, CTS is not expecting this trend to continue into 2017,” according to a budget summary.
The other main sources of Clallam Transit’s operating revenue are federal grants ($731,000 budgeted), cash fares and bus passes ($645,000) and van pool ($308,000).
On the expenditure side, Clallam Transit will spend nearly $4 million on fixed route operations, $1.76 million on paratransit, $1.71 on maintenance and $1.02 million on administration and public education in 2017.
Clallam Transit is “gearing up” for an expanded van pool program and will soon announce plans for major service upgrades for the Forks area, Clark-Getzin said.
The Clallam Transit budget includes a 2.19-percent wage increase for 2017 based on 90 percent of October’s Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton consumer price index, according to the budget summary.
As for fuel, Clallam Transit expects to pay $1 per gallon for propane and $3 per gallon for diesel and unleaded gas next year, according to the budget.
Clallam Transit will spend a budgeted $501,500 to fuel its fixed route fleet in 2017, up from the $253,687 it spent on fuel this year.
“The variance shown in the proposed budget is the result of fuel costs remaining lower than expected in 2016,” according to the budget summary.
Clallam Transit will eventually replace its fleet with electric vehicles, Clark-Getzin said.
With the development of the 2017 budget, Clallam Transit amended its six-year Transit Development Plan, showing the agency will be in “good shape, not needing any reserves to operate until 2021,” Clark-Getzin said.
The voting Clallam Transit board is composed of members of the Port Angeles, Sequim and Forks city councils and the Board of Clallam County Commissioners.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsula dailynews.com.
