Story by Kevin Woodard
Connect Transit General Manager David Braun proposed an 18% increase in their operating budget for 2023. That’s $2.9 million more than the current year budget. Braun made the proposal to the Connect Transit Board during Tuesday’s monthly meeting.
Braun noted that 70% of Connect’s budget is made up of labor and benefits. Brown is asking for seven new positions to be filled in his 23 request. Also impacting the cost of labor are continuing health care cost increases. The cost for labor and benefits as requested is an additional $1.1 million.
Another cost driver is fuel and lubricants. That cost is projected to go up 76% requiring a budget increase of $705,000. Likewise the cost of bus repair and maintenance is forecast to increase by $390,000.
$11.5 million in revenue is expected from the IL Downstate Operating Program while another $3.4 million is expected from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Operating Funds. Bloomington will be asked to contribute $760,000 and Normal $590,000.
Cities asked Braun if there would be opportunity for public input. He responded, “Well these are open meetings so they can certainly comment at the next meeting before they actually vote on the budget. Any sort of questions or inputs they can certainly reach out to us and I’ll answer to the best of my ability. You have heard a number of times that transparency is a key issue for us. And because we are a public agency, because we are spending public dollars it’s important for us to maintain that level of transparency so yes anyone can certainly asked and those comments would be raised with the board.”
