Mayor sees transit as finished issue

By Collin Gallant on November 8, 2017.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com @CollinGallant

Reopening the transit budget to find cost savings may have to wait, Mayor Ted Clugston told a Chamber of Commerce gathering after saying an uproar over service cuts — and then a complete reversal — had little effect on the recent election.

At his first significant public event after winning a second term, Clugston reiterated his belief that economic growth and tax rates were bigger issues in the minds of voters.

“The decision’s been made, and I don’t want to keep bringing up the issue,” he told reporters during his speech.

“You can get focused on one issue to the exclusion of others. Yes, there was some interest in transit but there was a lot of interest in other issues like taxes and electricity rates and economic growth.”

City officials had hoped to find $750,000 in savings to buffer tax increases through a council-sponsored review of the heavily subsidized bus system. However, changes to move routes and cut night and weekend service in many areas were panned by riders.

Within a month, council voted 6-3 to revert back but at the same time told staff to continue to find savings or improve on previous changes for future implementation.

Clugston was one of the dissenting votes, arguing improvements to the new system would be better.

As it is, he said, he’ll support that council position.

“We tried to make changes and I think we could have tweaked that, and council said ‘no’,” said Clugston.

“Change is difficult. People say lower my taxes but don’t change anything. We heard loud and clear that (people) wanted the original transit system back, and so we’re going to work with that.”

As for council…

“I won’t be pushing the issue but we are going to need a budget amendment to pay for it.”

The tax rate was forecast to rise 4.5 per cent next year when the 2017-2018 was presented earlier this year. That however, assumes a full year of transit savings. The absence could add another percentage point to the increase when the rate is set next spring.

The change back to the original routes and service schedule will be done Nov. 27.

Karen Charlton, commissioner of public services, said her people are concentrating on the switchback. There is not yet a plan or timeline to evaluate changes or seek alternate savings.

During his remarks, Clugston challenged the crowd whether they would have taken the bus to the breakfast event if the fare was free, or even if he’d offered them $5 to do so.

There were few takers in the audience of mostly business owners and public sector officials, and the implication was that you couldn’t give bus passes away to increase ridership.

That could be a demographic issue, said Clugston, but he argued it showed that boosting ridership is a difficult prospect.

Only two questions from the audience also revolved around transit.

Lorraine Dalla Longa, the manager of the Medicine Hat Retirement Villa, said she doesn’t take the bus and wouldn’t have an opinion about the changes, except that a number of her tenants were adversely affected.

Former councillor Celina Symmonds, in the audience, stated during a question-and-answer period that having the province provide base funding for transit in exchange for free bus passes for low income and disabled would be welcome.

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