Transit at a crossroads

Wichita Transit is at a tricky crossroads necessitating more cash or new cutbacks as well as strong City Hall leadership.

Of the four priorities that were earmarked for help from last year’s failed citywide sales tax proposal, the bus system was the most urgent and essential, especially for the low-income and disabled citizens who rely on it.

Now, Wichita Transit faces a $2 million shortfall for 2016 and, to counter it, possible reductions in routes and hours that could cost the system not only riders but also state and federal transportation grants.

During his successful mayoral campaign this spring, Jeff Longwell told The Eagle editorial board that he would look at a possible sales tax increase of one-tenth of a cent for transit, which he called the city’s most critical need.

Now the Transit Advisory Board is considering whether to recommend such a sales tax to the City Council. It would generate an estimated $7.1 million in 2016 and more than $8 million a year by 2018, with $5 million of the cash enabling extended routes and hours. Alternatively, one-twentieth of a cent would cover the system’s costs but not facilitate the changes to boost ridership and leverage more state and federal dollars.

Either is worth considering, though Gov. Sam Brownback and Kansas lawmakers just changed the math for local governments by turning to a statewide 0.35-cent sales tax increase to balance the state budget. Now, Wichita and other cities looking at sales taxes for local priorities must start their calculations from a statewide rate of 6.5 percent. With the county add-on, Wichitans will pay 7.5 percent sales tax starting July 1. Will that higher rate diminish what seemed last fall like interest in a transit-only tax?

City officials also have to consider the expense of calling an election, rather than waiting for one of the 2016 elections. Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Tabitha Lehman estimated the cost as similar to the $59,700 spent on the March primary election, also telling the editorial board Monday that her “very rough” estimate of a mail-ballot election is a daunting $225,000 (in part because of two-way postage costs).

And what kind of opposition would the latest proposal face? Would Koch Cos. Public Sector, which spent more than $1 million to kill the 1-cent sales tax last fall, stage a comeback to fight a much-smaller transit-only tax?

Though its finances have put the bus system in what Transit Advisory Board member Richard Schodorf called a “death spiral,” ridership is up this year and leaders have a lot of faith in transit director Steve Spade.

What happens next will be a telling test of leadership for the new mayor and City Council and a gauge of how much Wichitans value public transit. If an easy fix is hard to see, so is a robust economic future for Wichita without a strong transit system in it.

For the editorial board, Rhonda Holman

This story was originally published June 22, 2015 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Transit at a crossroads."