Bargain prices for diesel fuel allowed the Rock Region Metro transit agency to reduce the amount of money it will request from its local partners and still provide raises for its employees in the 2016 budget that its board of directors approved Tuesday.
The budget calls for the agency's partners -- Little Rock, North Little Rock, Pulaski County, Sherwood and Maumelle -- to contribute $12,429,771, or $137,782 less than the $12,567,553 they are scheduled to collectively pay in 2015.
"We are looking forward to a successful 2016, starting out with the ability to have a decrease in contributions from our partner investors compared to 2015," Jarod Varner, the agency's executive director, told board members in presenting the 2016 operating budget, which totals about $16 million.
The transit agency's biggest partner, Little Rock, will pay $8,576,529 next year, a decrease of $110,340, or 1.27 percent. North Little Rock will pay $2,666,134, a decrease of $24,465.
Pulaski County is scheduled to pay $1,031,902, or $721 less than this year. Sherwood's contribution will drop from $108,834 to $107,275, a savings of $1,559 for the city. Maumelle will pay $47,931 in 2016, or $697 less than this year, according to budget documents.
Rock Region Metro provides transit services in Little Rock, North Little Rock, Sherwood, Maumelle and unincorporated areas of Pulaski County in exchange for the contributions from the local governments as part of its overall budget, which also includes federal transit money, federal and state grant money and revenue from fares.
Fare revenue is projected to be $1,166,222 in 2016.
Wanda Crawford, the chief financial officer for Rock Region Metro, said the agency was able to reduce its partners' contributions because of the savings it is realizing from its contract for diesel fuel.
The agency will pay $1.72 per gallon for diesel fuel in 2016, compared with $2.92 under its old fuel contract, she said.
It expects to purchase $842,451 worth of diesel fuel in 2016, compared with $1,623,848 budgeted this year, according to budget documents. As recently as 2014, the agency's diesel fuel budget was $2.1 million.
Part of the savings is offset by a full year of the use of Rock Region Metro's new buses using compressed natural gas. The agency has budgeted $325,000 for compressed natural gas next year.
Partially countering the cheaper fuel prices is the agency's declining ridership, Crawford said.
Through October, Rock Region Metro has had 2,164,471 riders, a decline of 6.54 percent from the 2,315,835 riders it had at the same time in 2014.
Employees who belong to the agency's bargaining unit also will get a raise of 40 cents an hour, which amounts to a raise of about 2 percent. The raise won't take effect until July 2016.
The agency expects to spend about $1.45 million on labor and fringe benefits for its operators, dispatchers, supervisors and service and clerical employees.
Metro on 11/18/2015