08-30-17 Personnel and Finance (#4)

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Day express for Notre Dame home football games. Through sponsorships, this is not costing TRANSPO a single dime. It is free and open to the public. Lastly, we are going to take a look at our existing fare structure. We last launched a day pass in 2015 and that went well but the last time we looked at our fare was back in 2010 and we still have one (1) of the lowest fares in the State of Indiana. We are happy about that we but we want to take a look at that and see if it is still in line with what we should be doing. Councilmember Tim Scott arrived at the meeting at 5:05 p.m. Mr. Cangany continued, We have also been very proactive in reducing our operating costs. We've made a commitment to compress natural gas to help reduce operating costs. We have twenty-two (22)natural gas compressed buses. We used to hire lobbyists for$100,000 a year and that has now come in-house as we have really good representatives and senators in D.C. Almost ninety percent (90%) of our budget is out of our control. Wages, benefits, fuels and insurance takes up the majority of our budget through our collective bargaining agreement. When it comes down to it,the controlled costs demand increased creativity. Operating expenses are down from the past year. Our labor expense is relatively flat. Our veterans are starting to retire and so those folks replacing them are coming in at a much lower wage. After five (5)years, of course,they will be at the top rate but for the first couple years we have some type of relief as we have a newer workforce. Last year we signed on to the St. Joseph County Health Plan and that saved TRANSPO about $300,000 just in health care premiums. We are now in partnership with the county and that is great. With the conversion to compressed natural gas as well as the decrease in diesel prices, our fuel expense continues to go down. Revenue is split fairly equal. About one third (1/3) comes from local dollars. We receive no direct portion from the City of South Bend or the City of Mishawaka. We get our local dollars from property taxes. We levy and collect property tax. We receive about twenty percent(20%) of our revenue through the State through the Public Mass Transit Fund. We did see about a five percent(5%) increase in that Fund. That is making a move in the right direction. Federal Operating Assistance has us take the capital dollars and convert them to operating dollars. That is not sustainable but it is working for now. Passenger Fares account for approximately fourteen percent(14%) of our revenue. We still own the Main/Colfax garage for a couple more years. We receive about $200,000 a year from the City in a lease payment for that. One (1) of the biggest challenges facing TRANSPO is our aging bus fleet. Over fifty percent (50%) is still beyond the normal useful life. The Federal Transit Administration benchmarks twelve (12) years or 500,000 miles as a proper time to dispose of that vehicle. We still have about twenty-five (25) vehicles that are older than twelve (12) years. We continue to tackle that and chip away the number of vehicles needing to be replaced. There is still uncertainty about Federal funding as well as State funding. We will continue to look at ways to reduce expenses and are also preparing for the 2019 property tax caps. Mr. Cangany went on, We have many priorities in 2018. We will continue to look at the diversity of our contracting agreements. We are also looking at Workforce Development Partnerships to help people get in the door for the hiring process. Any time we buy a capital item,the Federal Government generally bonds eighty percent (80%) of that cost and we are responsible for the local match which is the remaining twenty percent (20%). Committemember John Voorde asked, What are the hours of operation for TRANSPO? 2