AUBURN — Full Saturday bus service for the Twin Cities would cost Lewiston and Auburn an additional $23,014 each, transit officials said Wednesday.
Phil Nadeau, chairman of the Lewiston-Auburn Transit Committee, presented two potential budgets for 2013 to the Twin Cities budget subcommittee Wednesday night in Auburn Hall. One plan would continue the current bus service; the other would expand Saturday service to all of the city’s routes.
“We recognize what’s going on with both cities, what’s going on with the economy, but our mission is to increase ridership,” Nadeau said. “Our Saturday service has been a very successful implementation and plan. The next step in this evolution this year is to go to full Saturday service.”
The group of four city councilors — Lewiston’s Don D’Auteuil and Richard Desjardins and Auburn’s Tizz Crowley and Mary LaFontaine — also heard Wednesday from representatives from Lewiston-Auburn 911 and the Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council. They heard from L/A Arts, the Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport and Great Falls TV last week.
The group will meet again later this month to go over the six budgets. They’ll make funding recommendations for each group to their respective councils in April.
LATC, which operates the Citylink bus system, began offering limited service with two routes on Saturdays in 2010. That change has contributed to a consistent 25 percent rise in riders.
Nadeau said the current plan requests $224,041 from each city to offer identical service and routes. That’s $16,262 more than the current 2012 budget.
“Fuel is a significant culprit in that,” Nadeau said.
Adding full routes on Saturdays would push that budget to $247,055 from each city.
Nadeau also suggested each city set aside $40,000 each year to help the LATC purchase new buses. That money would be put into a fund and used to meet matching requirements when federal grants become available.
“We assume that somehow the federal government will get out of its own way and fund transportation budgets,” Nadeau said. “Two years from now, when we are ready to replace buses, we will have federal funding to do it.”
Phyllis Gamache-Jensen, director of Lewiston-Auburn 911, said her goal this year is to level the budget and make sure it reflects actual numbers. Past budgets for the 911 call center have consistently under-budgeted some line items and over-budgeted others.
“Somehow, it’s all worked out in the bottom line, but I don’t think that’s a good way to do a budget and I prefer not to do it that way,” Gamache-Jensen said.
A line item used to pay for radio connectivity between L-A fire and police departments, was over budget by an average of $22,752 each year. The center’s overtime budget was also under funded by an average of $64,061.
The budget now includes those overages as well as a 3 percent salary increase for center staff. Gamache-Jensen is asking for $1.03 million from each city.
The Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council is asking for $160,687 — the same amount it received last year — from each city.
Executive Director Lucien Gosselin said the group, which helps bring developers to the region, offers loans to small businesses and markets the area; it also keeps the cities from fighting over new businesses.
Lewiston City Administrator Ed Barrett agreed. He recalled getting into a bidding war when he was Bangor’s city manager with representatives from Brewer over a potential development. The developer played the two cities against other, hurting the region.
“It was just stupid and counterproductive and sometimes it just chases people away,” Barrett said.
Gosselin said the growth council hoped to redo the “It’s Happening Here” marketing campaign in the coming year and to work on offering its services regionally.
Wednesday’s meeting was moved to the second-floor community room, across the hall from City Council chambers. Since there are no cameras in the community room, the meeting was not shown on Great Falls TV cable television.
Councilors said it was important to have their final discussion during their third meeting televised. That meeting will be held Monday, March 26, in Auburn Hall or Tuesday, March 27, in Lewiston City Hall. Councilors and city staff had to check their schedules to find out which day would work best.
The meeting will be recorded to be shown on Great Falls TV.
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