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Billie Johnson, president
of the Area Office on Aging, and Tim Harrington, executive
director of the Ability Center, gathered some area
like-minded concerned citizens together over the past few
months. The goal was to explore how they could help senior
citizens and the disabled deal with the funding difficulties
the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority (TARTA) faced
that has forced the transportation system to drop its TARPS
operation’s Sunday and holiday service.
As a result of their
efforts, the ad hoc group has raised sufficient funds, that
when coupled with matching federal funds, will enable TARTA
to reinstate TARPS service through the end of 2019.
“Since Area Office on
Aging heard the news in October we pulled together
stakeholder and have been meeting bi-weekly at our office,”
said Johnson at the start of a news conference on Tuesday,
April 2 to announce the success of the funding drive. The
Area Office concept was to raise funds locally and leverage
federal 5310 transportation funds in a 50 to 50 percent
match.
In January, the Area
Office board approved $50,000 in funds if other stakeholders
gave their share. The call went out to others and, thus far,
a total of 11 entities, including the Ability Center, the
Board of Lucas County Commissioners, the City of Toledo,
Mercy Health Partners, Lucas Metropolitan Housing Authority,
Pathway and the Board of Developmental Disabilities have
donated enough funds – almost $150,000 – to receive matching
federal funds and restore TARPS service as of Sunday April 7
and keep the service running on Sundays through the end of
2019.
“There is no service more
important to disabled folks than transportation,” said
Harrington.
The resumption of Sunday
TARPS service, as important as it is for seniors and the
disabled, is only a small portion of the overall service
that has been interrupted by the lack of adequate funding
for TARTA. At the end of 2018, the Lucas County
Commissioners started a TARTA Task Force to address the
problem and as elated as they were by the announcement of
TARPS resumption, they noted that they continue to recognize
the difficulty they face in finding a long-range solution.
“This is a band-aid for a
very serious problem for our neighborhood,” said
Commissioner Tina Skeldon Wozniak at the news conference.
“This is a short-term solution for a long-term problem.”
Skeldon Wozniak did note
that the Task Force members are in agreement that in order
to have adequate operating money, TARTA’s local funding must
shift from a property tax to a sales tax, a position TARTA
has been advocating for some time.
“It says something about
our community that we could raise this type of money,” said
Commissioner Pete Gerken. “But still left behind are those
riders on Sunday who need to get to work and who are not
disabled. We need to find a permanent fix.”
TARTA had proposed the new
funding plan in 2018 – moving from the current property tax
funding model to a sales tax model – which is used by most
major cities. That measure, which needs the approval of
citizens from every member of the TARTA community, has not
been placed on a ballot for area voters because the Sylvania
Township Board of Trustees vetoed voter consideration of the
proposal.
Recently the Ohio House
passed House Bill 42 that would have increased state funding
for transit systems and, through an amendment proposed by
Rep. Paula Hicks-Hudson, enabled transit systems to secure
majority approval of its community members rather than the
current unanimous approval needed for passage of major
changes. That bill has undergone major changes in the Ohio
Senate already eliminating those critical aspects.
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