The Milan News-Leader
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Cuts to bus system draw crowd
Bus riders show up in force at council meeting to protest plans to close the transit department
By Brian Cox, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: April 26, 2007
Some 40 to 50 area residents filled the seats in the Milan City Council chambers Monday night to voice objection to plans to close Milan Public Transit by July 1, even as council members debated a proposal to cut the Milan Police Department's budget by up to $197,000.
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Many who came to protest the closing of Milan Transit were Saline residents who ride the buses to doctors' appointments, the grocery store and the pharmacy.
"You have no idea how many people in Saline will be affected by this," said Laurie Aho. "People who need dialysis, cancer treatments and physical therapy."
Aho said she relies on Milan Transit as do many other disabled and elderly residents of both Milan and Saline.
"If you take this awy from these two towns, it will be something catastrophic," she told council.
"If you close this service down, you will be discriminating against senior citizens, the handicapped and the disabled," said Milan resident Sue Hodges. "We're supposed to be assisting these people to be more independent, not more dependent. How in the world can you consider doing away with the transit system?"
The council gave its assent during a budget work session several weeks ago to yank the city's $95,000 subsidy to the transit department in an effort to achieve about $1 million in cost savings and cuts.
Supporters of the bus system, including Interim Director Max Hall, say the council has not looked closely enough into alternatives short of shutting down the department.
"I got the idea there wasn't a real sense of urgency to save it," said Saline resident Gary Acree, whose daughter rides the bus on weekdays to work at Tim Horton's. "My impressiion is they want to bury their heads in the sand and hope it goes away."
Acree said he would have preferred to see a subcommittee made up of riders, transit employees and council members explore scheduling and other cost-saving options.
"If there were a special schedule set, all of use who use it could work around it," said Ginny Sparrow, who works with special-needs athletes and Special Olympics. Her grandson rides the bus to job training in Saline.
Milan Mayor Owen Diaz said he would write a letter to Saline city officials as a first step toward seeking increased financial support from Saline.
"We are in a dilemma," he said. "All of us are sympathetic to those who are disadvantaged."
"All of us are sad to see transit go," said council member Martha Churchill. "If we could do it without taking a loss, we would do it."
The transit department is not alone under the budget ax. Last week, Diaz asked Police Chief Jeff Lewis to try to cut 15 percent from the police department budget "without compromising public safety."
Monday night, Lewis came back with three options for council that could save somewhere between $133,000 and $197,000 in the department's $1.4 million budget.
But Lewis cautioned, "Any option I put forward here I believe will truly affect service."
The first option is to scale back dispatchers from four full-timers to three full-timers with some part-time support. The purchase of a new $30,000 squad car would also be put off. Lewis estimates the 7 percent budget cut would save the city $133,000.
The second option includes the specifics of the first option, but adds in laying off a police officer, for a total savings of about $160,000.
The third option includes the first two plans in addition to rolling back a sergeant to a patrol officer and cutting the DARE program. An estimated $197,000 could be saved, Lewis said -- at a cost.
"The things that make my department run behind the scenes are in jeopardy," he said, adding he could not say whether the cuts would affect public safety. Councilman Tim Gibelyou said he would like to see some statistics that might guide him in his decision, but that he was leaning toward the more drastic cuts outlined in option three.
"It seems for a city of our size we have some real nice services," he said. "I'm just not willing to give up every dime we have for the police department when we can't afford to fix our roads, have fireworks or concerts in the park. I think that's just baloney."
Councilman Mike Armitage, who is running for mayor in the November election and served as a dispatcher with the Milan Police Department before his election to council, said he would support the first option of cutting the department's budget by 7 percent. Anymore than that he feared would negatively impact response times and overall service.
Councilman Brett Moyer echoed the sentiment.
"I certainly don't think having an incident we can't cover should be the gauge for determining whether we've gone too far."
Churchill said she was in favor of finding the greatest savings possible.
"No matter where we are or what we do, something could happen," she said. "We need to do something drastic to our budget."
Diaz, whohas not yet made up his mind on whether he will seek a third term as mayor, said he would support the deeper cuts "as long as I can be assured public safet won't be compromised."
No immediate assurances were forthcoming from Lewis.
"Our budget is short and I can't buy a crystal ball and look into the future," he said. "I just can't."
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