Of the $8,400,311 general fund budget recently approved by the Mountain Line Transit Authority for the 2022-’23 fiscal year, roughly a quarter will come by way of performance benchmarks achieved by the system.
In addition to the $1,451,014 allotted to Mountain Line by the Federal Transportation Administration’s standard apportionment formula, an additional $2,150,106 has been allocated through a program called Small Transit Intensive Cities.
Mountain Line CEO Dave Bruffy said the STIC program compares smaller systems (MLTA is in the 50,000-200,000 range) to larger systems like Pittsburgh, which falls in the 200,000-1 million category.
“If we’re providing proportionally more service than the average larger urban system, then we’ll get additional funding,” Bruffy said. “It’s actually a performance reward.”
The largest single contributor to the MLTA budget is the transit levy initially passed by voters in 2016 and renewed for four years in 2020. It’s providing a total of $2.3 million to the upcoming spending plan. That total is broken down into equipment ($500,000); replacement of the allocation formerly provided by the county commission ($456,500); growth areas ($ 1 million); and evening services ($343,500).
The budget also includes a $356,500 allocation from the city of Morgantown and a $754,682.36 contract with WVU.
“When I started in October of 1997, our budget was $850,000,” Bruffy told the transit board. “With your leadership, we’ve accomplished quite a bit.”
As for expenditures, the spending plan includes a 5% pay increase for most positions, with lower-paid positions receiving a higher percentage in order to get all employees over $15/hour.
Bruffy explained drivers, which are in short supply, have received a 9% wage increase over the last two years.
All told, personnel costs eat up just over $4.7 million. Drivers make up $2.27 million of that total. Bruffy earns a salary of $141,538 as CEO.
Of MLTA’s roughly $12 million capital escrow budget, half is slated for vehicle replacement and an additional $1 million is held in the system’s operating reserve account.
Various projects will also draw from the capital escrow budget, including a $1,178,800 contract with Anderson Excavating for new concrete and expansion of parking areas around MLTA’s Westover hub.
Money has also been set aside to build out additional office space and redesign unfinished and underused portions of that building.
The transit authority selected DRS Architects, of Pittsburgh, to help lead that process.
In other news, the state of West Virginia has a birthday coming up.
The Big 153.
In honor of the special occasion, the transit board approved a fare holiday for the week of West Virginia Day.
Rides will be free June 20-24 on all service except the Grey Line, which runs south to Clarksburg and north to Pittsburgh.
“The motto is ‘West Virginians are always free.’ Well, bus service will be free, at least for that week,” Bruffy said.
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