PORT ANGELES — A spike in sales tax revenue has improved Clallam Transit’s financial outlook for 2016.
The public transportation agency expects to end this year with $6.6 million in sales tax collections, up from a budgeted $5.9 million.
Officials are projecting an additional 1 percent increase in next year’s sales tax, which is by far the largest source of revenue for Clallam Transit.
“We started seeing more sales tax coming in 2015 pretty much at the start of the year,” Clallam Transit General Manager Wendy Clark-Getzin said Friday.
Finance Manager Melinda Smithson presented a proposed 2016 budget to Clallam Transit board members in a Thursday workshop.
The draft shows $8.7 million in operating revenue and $8.4 million in operating expenses for a net gain of about $330,000.
Upgrades to routes
Clallam Transit would use the income for capital purchases and system improvements such as planned upgrades to the Forks and Sequim commuter routes, Clark-Getzin said.
A final draft budget will be presented at the Nov. 16 transit board meeting.
Public comments will be accepted in the weeks leading up to a public budget hearing Dec. 21.
“We did a really good job of managing our money back in the aughts [2000 to 2009], and I believe that philosophy is continuing to this day,” Clallam Transit Board Chairman and Forks Mayor Bryon Monohon said at the workshop.
“Again, we’re looking at managing a system and having a financially viable system 10, 15, 20 years down the road.”
Clallam Transit has about $2.6 million in operating reserves.
Its board consists of Port Angeles, Sequim and Forks City Council members and Clallam County commissioners.
Next year, Clallam Transit will spend about $1.4 million on capital investments, including $833,000 for paratransit vehicles.
State and federal grants will account for more than $1 million of that spending, according to the proposed budget.
Ridership
Like most rural transportations systems, Clallam Transit has seen a decrease in ridership this year.
Officials attributed the 6.2 percent decrease to low fuel prices and unemployment, among other factors.
Clallam Transit this year budgeted $670,000 for cash fares, passes and tickets — its second-largest income stream — and projects to end the year with $615,738.
Transit is budgeting for no increase in cash fares, regular passes, tickets, college passes, charters, vanpools and paratransit in 2016.
Monohon said it is “essential” that Clallam Transit adapts to meet its riders’ needs.
“We need to get that feedback, that information and that data from the people out on the street level, and that needs to be done organically without spending a whole lot of money on consultants and getting back what somebody thinks we want to hear,” Monohon said.
“We need to talk to the kids at the college. We need to talk to people down at Gateway. We need to talk to the commuters back and forth to Forks.”
Public outreach will help Clallam Transit find efficiencies and maximize service, Clark-Getzin said in a telephone interview.
“For us, it’s about encouraging people to get on the bus,” she said.
For routes, schedules, fares and other information about Clallam Transit, click on www.clallamtransit.com or phone 360-452-4511.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.