Steady and stable is how executive director Martha Rose describes Island Transit’s 2003 budget, which was passed Friday by the Puget Transit Board of Advisors.

It’s the following year that has Rose worried, she said.

For now, Rose said next year’s approximately $4.9 million operating budget presents no major changes for Island County’s transit system, despite the recent failure of R-51, the gas-tax referendum that would have plunked about $1 million of state funding into Island Transit’s coffers.

The current financial stability of Island Transit is due in part to the organization’s success in procuring state transportation grants, Rose said. In van pool and vehicle grants alone, staff have secured over $800,000 in grants for 2003; miscellaneous grants account for another $104,000.

“We’ve just been unbelievably fortunate the last several years with getting grants,” Rose said. “It’s just amazing.”

Beyond this, Rose said balancing next year’s budget was a matter of making do with the revenue at hand, which included, for example, reducing the “cushion” usually kept in Island Transit’s fuel budget.

“We always work really hard at tightening our belts,” Rose said, adding that this year in particular “we had to be really careful.”

service spared

There will be no cuts in service or personnel next year. Any major capital expenditures for 2003, such as new bus purchases or an expansion of the organization’s maintenance facilities in Coupeville, is dependent on a handful of grants coming through. Also, Rose, who has served as executive director since 1991, said she’s taking a look at a number of cost-cutting measures such as assessing and potentially modifying certain service routes.

“We’re going to take a really serious look at consolidating,” she said, noting that less popular bus routes might end up being combined into one line or subsumed under a more major route.

Currently, Island Transit owns 47 buses and about 80 van pool vehicles; among the total staff of 74, there are 50 operators and about a dozen on the maintenance crew, with the remaining positions being mostly administrative in nature.

Rose said Island Transit will continue to aggressively pursue grant funding, especially with the failure of R-51 and the generally slow local economy. There are a number of important capital acquisitions and projects in the works, including the purchase of a new water recycling unit for maintenance, 8 expansion cutaway buses and a shop truck/trailer rig.

Most important, perhaps, is the expansion of the current maintenance facilities, which were purchased for $150,000 in 1988 when Island Transit possessed only five buses. “We’ve really run out of room. We need more working space,” Rose said, adding that she’s going after federal funding for the expansion.

Lots of needs

“There sure are a lot of needs and requests out there,” she said, which she’s hoping to satisfy with ongoing success in procuring program-specific state and federal grants. “We’re going after a direct pot of money,” Rose added.

It’s not this year, however, that has Rose concerned. “2004 is the one that I worry about,” she said, adding that the aftershocks of R-51’s failure to pass, coupled with a continuing poor economy and the long-term effects of such tax-limiting initiatives as I-695, will begin to have a negative impact on local public transportation.

“It’s going to really start to hit,” she said.

Funding shortfalls could really impact such currently successful programs as Island Transit’s para-transit service, which provides special routes and transportation options for the disabled and elderly. Rose pointed out that the local para-transit program, despite high demand, enjoys the lowest cost-per-rider ratio in the state.

“It’s effective all the way around,” Rose said. “It’s really community oriented.”