The Geary County Commission is considering a proposed cut of $60,000 from ATA bus operations.

The cut is part of the 2018 proposed budget that will include an overall reduction in the property tax levy of 1.64 mils.

Charles Stimatze, County Commissioner, said that all County Departments were asked to make reductions to help with budget preparation. “We felt that the ATA bus ought to have a little reduction also, so [cuts] can be spread across everybody.”

The proposed budget is still several weeks from final approval so the amount of funding to any given department could change; however, commissioners have indicated that they do not “foresee major changes.”

If the cut to ATA bus operations is finalized in the 2018 budget, the loss will be more than the $60,000 from the County.

Anne Smith, Flint Hills ATA bus Director, said that proposed cut is disappointing. “We use the local funding dollars to leverage federal and state funds so it’s more in the line of over $120,000 reduction to our Geary County budget.”

Smith noted that ATA bus officials are studying their budget to see how this will impact services in Geary County. “These are tight financial times for everybody and we appreciate that the Commission is continuing to support ATA bus and support our services, and we will continue to provide the best quality of transit services to Geary County that we can.”

Florence Whitebread, ATA bus Board President, said that if this cut in operations is kept in the 2018 final budget, it will affect much more than ATA bus.

“If Junction City is to grow and employ people, they need this service,” said Whitebread. “If you have people employed then they’re buying their home, or paying their rent or they’re paying taxes.”

Whitebread noted that the employment issue is “a big one” in Junction City. “We do have a lot of people riding [the bus] for employment, but we also during the school year have a lot of students riding the ATA bus.” In addition to work, Whitebread noted that many use the bus to get to doctor’s appointments or to go shopping.

Most importantly, according to Whitebread, is that many officials “lose sight of the poverty factor in our towns; we are not a town that has a lot of people with two cars, there’s a lot of families with just one car.”

Whitbread noted that in order to keep people working, a community must provide public transportation.

The County 2018 budget is not yet final…it is a proposal at this point.