Rural transit says it needs state help

Nevada's rural counties are asking the state to help them come up with matching funds to keep their local transit systems working.

Businesses such as Amazon.com in rural areas have been effected.

Representatives from several rural counties, including Churchill and Lyon, testified last week before the state legislative commission conducting an interim study on the Nevada's mass transit systems.

The counties receive funds from the federal government to operate their transit systems, usually bus routes.

But the cashstrapped counties say they are having trouble coming up with the necessary matching funds they need to secure the federal money.

"How much in federal funds are we not taking advantage of?" asked Assemblyman David Parks (D-Clark) of Chuck Ricker, executive director of the Northern Nevada Transit Coalition.

"We're not able to tap into $450,000 in job access money," Ricker said, as an example.

The counties rely on so-called 5311 funds that the Nevada Department of Transportation gets from the federal government.

This year the federal money will top $856,000, meaning the counties must come up the same amount to match it in order to receive the federal funds.

"We're asking them for a bill draft to provide 25 percent," said Carol Dotson, director and director of planning at Lumos and Associates.

That's one quarter of the total, which would be about $428,000 for 2004.

The issue doesn't just affect the counties elderly, low-income and disabled citizens who rely on the bus system for shopping, medical appointments, and jobs, said representatives.

Problems with mass transit funding also affect area businesses, they said.

Problems with the system forced Amazon.com, for example, which operates a book warehouse in Fernley, to move some its operations to a second warehouse in Reno during the hectic holiday season, according to Carl Dahlen, director of rural community and economic development at the Nevada Commission on Economic Development.

"As the Amazon.com warehouse was gearing up for their busiest time of year, the Lyon County transportation system was forced to discontinue service because of a lack of matching funds for a federal grant that had made the service possible," Dahlen said.

"The inability for businesses to maintain employees because of a lack of transportation becomes one more reason for those businesses to cross off rural areas of Nevada when they are making location decisions," he said.

Trouble in Lyon County, as well as other areas that were once served through a contract with NDOT, are the focus of a possible lawsuit between the state and four bus operators (see Jan.

19, page 1).

According to the operators, they continued to run routes in Fernley, Fallon, Dayton, Yerington, Silver Spring, Gardnerville and Carson City after NDOT promised that funds would be made available to pay for it.

The operators said they never were paid - a total between $500,000 and $600,000 - and have each hired attorneys who are working together to negotiate with NDOT.

The group is waiting to hear from NDOT, according to Bill Gibson, director of sales at All West, the bus operator that once ran a route between Fallon and Carson City.

If NDOT fails to meet their deadline, then the group will sue the state, he said.

The other operators are the now defunct Lyon County Transit, Ormsby Association for Retarded Citizens and Para Transit Services.

The legislative commission is also considering a change to the Nevada constitution, which prohibits funds from the gas tax from being used for anything but road construction and maintenance.

That's why the rural counties, as well as Clark and Washoe, must rely on federal funds to operate, and why they are asking the state to find some way to help them deliver the needed matching funds.

"Nevada is about the only state left that doesn't contribute funds to rural transit," said Ricker of the Northern Nevada Transit Coalition.

The counties have a champion in Sen.

Joseph Neal (D-Clark County), the chair of the legislative commission.

"I'm one of the few legislators that travels a lot in this state, and am able to see some of the problems in terms of transportation needs," said Neal during last week's meeting.

"I'm hopeful we can produce a report that addresses the humanist aspect of this problem.

And I hope [the state] steps up rather than waits for the private sector." The commission, through a resolution, is chartered to publish a report by July.

It plans to hold two more meetings before that: in Ely on April 13 followed by a work session in Las Vegas on June 15.