Buses in Fountain funded through mid-July

Folks who depend on buses to get to and from Fountain are assured of that service through mid-July, following approval Tuesday of a contract with Colorado Springs to provide both fixed-route and paratransit service.

The city of Colorado Springs’ Mountain Metropolitan Transit has provided bus service to the smaller city to the south for years, but Fountain has struggled to pay the bill. This past year was no different, and bus riders feared the service would end in 2008.

Fountain Mayor Jeri Howells said the city found $147,000 in its general fund to pay Colorado Springs for bus service from January through July 18. But she said it’s uncertain where the city will find another $120,000-plus for service through the rest of 2008.

She said a recent outside audit of city finances found Fountain may be squirreling away too much of its money in reserve funds, so it’s possible that could be tapped to fund bus service in the second half of the year.

Still, she said, that would only be a stopgap move, leaving the city to scramble next year for bus funding.

Howells said she believes the previous City Council was shortsighted in refusing to join with various other governments in the region in seeking voter approval for a sales tax increase to fund road and transit needs.

That effort resulted in voter approval in 2004 for a one-cent sales tax to fund the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority. She said El Paso County and the cities of Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, Green Mountain Falls and Woodland Park are now flush with cash to take care of road maintenance and capital improvement needs and transit projects.

“That was such a bad error in judgment, and it will affect us until we come up with another idea for funding,” said Howells, who as a county commissioner at the time unsuccessfully urged Fountain leaders to join the PPRTA.

Howells estimated Fountain could have reaped about $500,000 a year if it had joined the PPRTA.

Howells said Fountain needs a secure funding source not only for transit but also to do long-delayed road maintenance in the growing community.

She said the solution might be to seek an increase in Fountain’s current 3 percent sales tax, maybe in conjunction with an expected campaign by El Paso County to increase its sales tax.

But she said increasing the sales tax by .2 percent — a figure that has been kicked around — would only bring in about $330,000. That would be enough to fund transit or maybe road maintenance — but not both.

“We have a very high percentage of folks who depend on paratransit — that’s their lifeline,” she said. “The majority of council seems pretty committed to keeping transit, but when you’re faced with a lot of other needs, you’re just never sure.”

Bus ridership figures for the Fountain routes were not available Tuesday.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0197 or bill.mckeown@gazette.com