HASTINGS - Since 1982, the Barry County transit service has offered transportation options to county residents without any local money other than the fares people paid.
But now, the service that many people have come to rely on to get to jobs, appointments or just around town needs some local help, officials say.
The transit department is asking county taxpayers to approve on Aug. 2 a tax levy of .25 of a mill. Without the local tax, county officials say, the service is in danger of eliminating practically everything but fixed bus routes because of a continually shrinking budget.
If approved, the 10-year millage will provide revenue for the transit service and raise an estimated $403,320 in the first year.
For the owner of a $100,000 home, .25 of a mill translates into $12.50 a year in taxes.
Jack Coykendall, 70, who uses the county bus for his daily trip to the coffee shop in downtown Hastings, supports the proposal. Coykendall gave up driving years ago, and the county service has been a reliable means of transportation, he said.
"They do the best they can," he said, a well-worn Detroit Tigers cap perched above his smiling face during a recent bus ride.
Roma Barton said she usually rides the bus five days a week.
"I couldn't live without it," said the 75-year-old Hastings woman. "My kids all work during the day, so they can't take me anywhere unless it's an emergency."
Whether she's volunteering at the Michigan Department of Human Services in Barry County, donating blood or going to an auction, Barton said she relies on the county transit service to get places.
Coykendall and Barton said they hope the millage passes to preserve the future of the transit service.
"I hope they don't shut it down," Coykendall said.
Joe Bleam, Barry County transit director, said transit services have been scaled back over the last several years because of budget cuts, especially in state and federal support.
Part of Barry County's annual transit budget - $575,000 for 2004-05 - comes from the $1 and $2 fares to ride any of 13 buses. But as late as 1997, about 60 percent of the money needed to support the budget came from the state.
This year, the state provided only about 38 percent, or about $217,000, Bleam said. Approval of the millage will help the transit service survive another decade, he said.
"We've cut a fair amount of routes and slimmed down as much as we could," he said. "By mid-2006, we'll end up shutting down any demand-responsive service, which is when people call in and request a specific ride."
Annual transit rides have fallen from more than 80,000 in 1999 to around 60,000 last year, Bleam said, and rural service, which is basically anything outside Hastings, has been cut.
If the millage is passed, Bleam said there is a possibility taxpayers won't see the bill every year.
"There's a good chance the state money will recover," he said. "We may not have to levy the entire millage or we may not have to renew the millage after 10 years."
With the millage revenue, Bleam said the transit service will be able to restore the 20,000 annual rides and about 2,800 hours of rural service.
Bleam said without the millage, the transit service will maintain a fixed route, which could eliminate service to many rural customers who depend on buses as their only means of transportation.
"You've got seniors and the disabled, which is probably the largest share of our riders, for whom the transit is the only means of transportation," he said. "We've got some pretty upset folks around here thinking a year from now, they'll have to be knocking on their neighbor's door for a trip to the grocery store or the doctor's office."
The Barry, Manistee and Alger county operations are the only transit systems on the Michigan Public Transit Association's critical list, which identifies systems that could close within a year without additional funding, according to MPTA officials.
Manistee and Alger counties, however, already receive additional funding through millages.
Nick Schirripa can be reached at 966-0692 or nschirrip@battlecr.gannett.com. Read his blog in the News Extras area at battlecreekenquirer.com.
Barry County Proposal 2
.25 mill for Barry County Transit
Shall the limitation on general ad valorem taxes within Barry County, as established by Article IX, Section 6 of the Michigan Constitution, be increased by .25 new additional mills ($.25 per $1,000 of taxable value) upon all taxable real and personal property within Barry County, Michigan for a period of ten (10) years, 2005 through 2014, inclusive, for the purpose of maintaining, operating and acquiring equipment and property for Barry County Transit?
This is a request for new additional millage.
If approved, it is estimated that the levy of .25 mills will provide revenue of $403,320 in the first calendar year of the levy.
The tax revenue received by the County will be disbursed to Barry County Transit for transportation purposes.
Nick Schirripa - The Enquirer
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