by Steve Wiandt
Reporter
Cuts made by Metro Regional Transit Authority will be restored thanks to Summit County voters who approved Issue 8 March 4.
The passage of Issue 8 will raise the county sales tax from 6.25 percent to 6.5 percent, providing Metro an additional $18 million annually. The agency's budget now is $30 million per year, according to Metro.
Kirt Conrad, Metro director of planning, said he's "relieved" at the election's outcome. According to final but unofficial results from the Summit County Board of Elections, 80,960 people voted in favor of the tax; 74,319 voted against it.
Election results will be certified April 1 by the Board of Elections.
"I think that the voters understand the importance of public transportation," said Conrad. "We're very thankful to the community because the cuts have been devastating." Metro has made cuts in personnel, buses and service, but other cuts that had been planned will not be made, Conrad said.
In addition, access to Stow, Hudson and northern Summit County will be increased. In the future, he said Metro will provide more cross-town connections in Barberton, earlier buses to allow people to get to 6 a.m. shifts and better late-night connections for third-shift workers.
Talk of discontinuing Metro SCAT, curb-to-curb service for the elderly and disabled, is moot since Issue 8 passed, Conrad said.
According to Citizens for Public Transportation, a political action committee formed to support Issue 8, Metro has not asked for any tax money since 1990.
Conrad said the campaign to pass Issue 8 was "pretty intense." He said he and others presented more than 200 speaking engagements across the county. And two mailings were sent to 62,000 households. Campaigning began in late November, Conrad said.
"It's been a pretty long process," he said.
Since 2000, Metro has had to make cuts that now total $10 million a year due to increased expenses and decreased funding. According to CPT, Metro has reduced 30 percent of services, cut 58 employees, frozen wages for three years out of the last four years, doubled SCAT fares and increased regular bus service would have been reduced 60 percent by 2010 with out additional support.
Metro's fleet is down 48 buses, Conrad said. Since 2000, 58 workers have been laid off, 10 as recently as November. There are currently 316 Metro employees. Conrad said some will be called back, but most of those laid off were granted retirement or their positions were eliminated through attrition.
If the tax hadn't passed, Conrad said, another 50 employees would have been let go.
Service would have been cut back more if Issue 8 had failed. Metro was planning, Conrad said, to cut Route 23 in Cuyahoga Falls, which serves Graham Road, Portage Trail and the Sutliff apartment complex in Cuyahoga Falls.
A route to the Akron-Canton Airport in Green would have been eliminated, as well, he said.
Metro is going to restore what's been taken away, Conrad said, but that will take time. "One bus costs $300,000," he said, "and employees require three to six months' training ... [restoration] won't happen tomorrow."
Conrad said the state and federal governments have cut funding to urban transit systems back to a level that hadn't been seen since 1983. And next year, he said, the federal government plans to make a quarter-billion dollar cut in transportation funding.
"At a time like this when fuel costs are rising," Conrad said, "the government is going the opposite way."
"We've lost funding and expenses have gone up," Conrad said. "It's kind of been like a perfect storm."
E-mail: swiandt@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-686-3915