The Seward County Commissioners and Transit Director Brandy Hafer are looking for funding alternatives for the transportation program that provides rides around Seward County and to and from Lincoln, Omaha and other places.
On Nov. 18, Hafer told Seward County commissioners the Nebraska Department of Transportation was to notify her department by Nov. 1 about how much of a recent 30% funding cut her department might expect to be replaced.
The answer was none.
The county’s public transit program receives 80% of its funding through federal grants, 10% through state funding and 10% through county funding.
The program’s operating expenses run around $29,108 per month.
Hafer reported she has $31,243 remaining in state funds for the current fiscal year and $100,854 in federal funds, which would fund about 4.5 of the remaining 7-plus months of the fiscal year.
Commission Chair Misty Ahmic said the county will need to look for other funding options to continue transit services past February, but she said she does not want to add local tax dollars to that because the state and federal funding was committed when counties took on transit programs.
She said the county may need to look at possible cuts in the transit program.
Hafer said she has looked into qualifying for Medicaid funding, which may be an option, but the application requires a $709 fee.
Ahmic said it would take 78 rides to Lincoln to offset the Medicaid application fee.
Cuts could involve limiting the service’s hours.
Ahmic said the commissioners and Hafer need to have further discussion of other options for the program. Commissioner Darrell Zabrocki is liaison to the public transit program and will work with Hafer on options to bring back to a future meeting.
In other action on Nov. 18, the commissioners:
• Approved the reclassification of 182nd Road north of Agnew Road. It was previously designated as “minimum maintenance,” which is limited to roads primarily used for farm machinery and limited other traffic, and is now classified as “local,” which allows the county to make improvements to the road to allow passenger and commercial vehicle traffic.
• Approved use of the county’s Emergency Manager Grant Fund to purchase four AED devices to replace expired devices in county buildings for $4,685, including trade in.
