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SARTA TO ELIMINATE 5 BUS ROUTES, LAY OFF UP TO 30 DUE TO DETERIORATING REVENUE
November 21, 2024
CANTON ‒ The Stark Area Regional Transit Authority is preparing to discontinue five bus routes and lay off up to 30 employees in February due to disappointing revenue from its 0.25-percent sales tax.
SARTA would also freeze hiring and eliminate all discretionary spending. This is in addition to a significant scaling back of ProLine paratransit service that SARTA announced earlier this month.
“While SARTA is fiscally stable and has $6 million in its reserve fund, we obviously cannot afford to continue to spend more than we collect,” the agency said in a statement. “That is why we are taking immediate action to deal with the budgetary challenges we now face and will carefully plan for a future that may well include reductions in state and federal support for public transportation.
“It is important to note that the board and SARTA’s entire staff remain totally committed to providing the safe, affordable transit service the residents of Stark County want, need and deserve.”
SARTA CEO Kirt Conrad told the board at a meeting Wednesday night that he found out earlier in the day that SARTA’s sales tax collections for September were $1.41 million — about $144,000, or 9.2%, less than sales tax revenue for the same month last year. SARTA had projected sales tax revenue of $1.55 million.
Conrad said he and his staff would not be ready to present the agency’s 2025 budget in November as usual. With the state cutting its revenue forecasts, SARTA is assuming that sales tax revenue will fall 5% in 2025.
He said if the Ohio Department of Transportation has to implement a 5% cut in its spending next year, that could lead to a 30% cut in state aid for public transit systems, even before the end of the current state fiscal year on June 30. Conrad said such cuts have taken place in the past.
Conrad added that with Donald Trump being sworn in as president on Jan. 20, he can’t predict federal funding levels for public transit by the new administration and Congress.
“The expenses have not been the problem,” Conrad told the board. “It’s the revenue projection that’s been deteriorating.”
What routes is SARTA discontinuing?
The public bus company said on Feb. 10 it would end its late night loop Routes 151, 152 and 153; its Success Express Route 157; and Community Circulator Route 158. Here’s a look at the routes, according to the SARTA website:
- The Success Express Route 157 provides service to A.R.E., Freshmark, Freshmark Cold Storage, Nickels, GoJo Sterilite, and Shearers in Massillon and Navarre.
- North Late Night Loop Route 151 provides service to Akron Children’s Pediatrics, Aultman North medical center, Belden Village Mall, Kent State University Stark Campus, Mercy Medical Center & Sports Medicine, Meyers Lake Shopping Plaza, Movies 10, North Canton Industrial Park, Stark State College, Cinemark Tinseltown and The Strip in North Canton and Jackson Township.
- West Late Night Loop Route 152 provides service to Aultman Hospital, downtown Massillon, Massillon Village Center, and Walmart in Canton and Massillon.
- East Late Night Loop Route 153 provides service to Aultman Hospital, CHIP Townhouses, DLH Industries, downtown Canton, Ellis Dale Apartments, Linwood Acres, Skyline Terrace Apartments and Walmart in Canton.
- Community Circulator Route 158 provides service to the Canton Centre, Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital, Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank and Walmart in Canton.
Union leader: ‘It’s a business, and they must maintain financial stability’
Conrad said SARTA would announce around Jan. 10 what service might replace the scaled back ProLine paratransit service. Conrad has indicated it would be very limited service, would only provide transportation within a community and not countywide, and would have limited capacity and be less frequent. If someone called and the vehicles and drivers were booked, they would not get service, in contrast to ProLine’s current policy.
As part of the change, SARTS has said instead of providing service from any point in the county to any other point in the county, SARTA will provide only ride-by-appointment paratransit services in an area within 0.75 miles of a fixed bus route. Public meetings to discuss the changes with riders are set to take place today and Friday in Canton, Massillon and Alliance.
Several members of SARTA’s union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 1880, attended the meeting, including unit President Joseph Risby. They declined to address the board.
The union’s three-year contract with SARTA ends at the end of this year, and the two sides are holding negotiations.
After SARTA’s board went into a private executive session to discuss collective bargaining, Risby said Conrad had alerted union leadership about some of the changes he was going to announce a few days before.
“It’s a business. Sometimes you fall on hard times and you have to make adjustments,” Risby said. “It’s a business, and they must maintain financial stability.”