Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Public Transit

TO:	Dave Corliss, City Manager
FROM:	Cliff Galante, Public Transit Administrator
CC:	Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager Cynthia Boecker, Assistant City Manager
Date:	March 4, 2008
RE:	Staff Report on Recent 0.225% Sales Tax Increase Dedicated for Public Transit in St. Joseph, MO

Voters in St. Joseph, Missouri, recently passed a 0.225% sales tax increase dedicated for public transit that will generate approximately $2.3M in FY09. This sales tax was approved by 71% of voters on February 5, 2008. This level of support was greater than all but one St. Joseph tax initiative in the last 19 years, according to the St. Joseph News-Press archives.

Since 1994, the sales tax rate dedicated for public transit was 1/8 cent or 0.125%. Effective July 1, 2008, the total sales tax rate dedicated for transit will be 0.375% or 3/8 cent; estimated to generate $3.9M to support operational and capital needs. It is anticipated that the 3/8 cent sales tax dedicated to transit will help the transit system remain financially solvent by addressing both operating and capital needs through 2023.

City staff had originally recommended a 7/16 sales tax increase for transit to not only maintain existing service levels, but to also make service improvements such as increasing frequency of service from 60 minutes to 30 minutes. The St. Joseph City Council only supported a 0.225% additional sales tax for transit however, and on February 5, voters approved it by a large margin (71%).

The St. Joseph Transit System, called the “The Ride,” has a total fleet of 20 transit vehicles operating 30ft. low-floor, heavy-duty Gillig buses. Seventeen peak vehicles are used to serve eight deviated fixed-routes on one hour headways, operating Monday – Friday from 5:15am to 9:15pm. Eight peak vehicles operate on Saturday from 7:00am to 7:00pm on two hour headways. In 2007, total ridership for the transit system serving a population of 75,000 was 417,906 representing a 17.7% increase in ridership from FY06 when 355,143 trips were completed. One reason cited for the noteworthy increase in ridership is that St. Joseph had a major employer (Triumph Foods) open a pork processing plant in January 2006. They employ over 2,000 workers. These are $10 per hour jobs, and the majority of workers have no other transportation available to them besides the bus to get to and from work. Public transportation has operated in St. Joseph since 1867. The City of St. Joseph has been operating public transit since 1984.