Finding ways to expand bus service becomes focus of county budget hearing

Brevard County's $1.3 billion budget for the coming fiscal year received unanimous preliminary approval Tuesday night.

Tax rates for Brevard County property owners will continue to decrease under the proposed budget for 2018-19.

The budget plan sets a priority for road, drainage, sewage and other infrastructure improvements; maintains existing programs and services; and gives county employees cost-of-living pay raises of 1.5 percent.

But most of the discussion at the first of two required county budget hearings centered on a relatively small part of the budget — the one for public transit. The proposed Space Coast Area Transit budget of $21.06 million represents about 1.63 percent of the total county budget.

Seven members of the public — most of them visually impaired — addressed commissioners on what they felt were shortfalls in public transit service. They urged commissioners to seek ways to find money to improve the service.

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During budget debate, both County Commission Vice Chair Kristine Isnardi and Commissioner Jim Barfield said they would work to do just that.

Barfield said he will ask the Space Coast Transportation Planning Organization to study ways to transform the county's current transportation impact fees on new construction to "mobility fees."

He envisions revenue from mobility fees being used both on road projects and on expanding public transit service, whereas the current transportation impact fees are more restrictive, focusing on new road projects.

Isnardi said the public transit issue is "pretty important to me. So I'll do whatever I can to help."

She said most people use Space Coast Area Transit buses to get to their jobs, so improved bus service can help the economy grow.

She said she will work with Assistant County Manager for Community Services Jim Liesenfelt to find ways improve bus service.

During public comment to the commissioners, Joseph Naulty of West Melbourne said that, while SCAT is doing what it can in its "struggle to make things happen with very little money," he believes transit users have "been put on the back burner."

"Something is radically wrong," said Naulty, who is the founder of the Melbourne-Space Coast Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind.

He noted, though, that county commissioners have "got a tough job on your shoulders" in the budget process.

Maria Rigogliosi of Melbourne lamented the "shoestring budget" that SCAT must deal with.

"Shoestrings are OK sometimes, but, sometimes, you stretch them too far, and they snap," Rigogliosi said.

"We need your help," Melbourne resident Ron Bryant told county commissioners. "Just like the driving public needs roads and bridges, we need buses and transportation. Many of us don't have enough funds to be able to go on Uber or take a taxi, and we don't always have a friend who's available to take us places."

Other speakers told commissioners of three-hour, one-way trips to get to their destinations within Brevard by SCAT bus.

New bus route starting

Isnardi noted that there have been steps taken to improve local bus service.

On Monday, for example, SCAT is introducing a new "Heritage-West Melbourne" Route 20.

The bus will leave from the Melbourne Square Mall bus stop at 25 minutes after the hour, where it also connects with Routes 21B, 25B and 28B on weekdays. Route 20 will operate from 6:25 a.m. to 8:20 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and from 7:25 a.m. to 5:20 p.m. on Saturdays.

Among the stops on the route is Promise in Brevard, a new residential community for adults with special needs.

“Promise in Brevard is a place where young adults with special needs can live a life of opportunities and freedom never thought possible," the community's residential services coordinator, Pat Rush, said in a statement. “Offering our residents transportation opportunities through Space Coast Area Transit’s Route 20 helps make this dream a reality.”

Other locations along the route include Space Coast Field of Dreams, Hammock Landing, Heritage High School, Goodwill and the Greyhound bus station on State Road 192. Route 20 also uses the new St. John’s Heritage Parkway. 
 
SCAT Director Scott Nelson said he worked closely with Isnardi and her constituents to plan the launch of Route 20.

"We have been receiving requests to provide transit service in this area for many years,” Nelson said. “The support of the County Commission and the Florida Department of Transportation allows us to provide mobility options through Route 20 to nonprofits, businesses, residents and high school students in this previously underserved Palm Bay-West Melbourne corridor.”

Isnardi said the new route will help Heritage High students with transportation from their after-school programs and other activities.

"That was a big deal" to add the route, Isnardi said.

To supplement the revenue from fares paid by riders, funding for the route comes from a combination of state and county funds, Liesenfelt said.

SCAT currently has 20 other regular bus routes.

Budget gets 5-0 vote

Other than on the transit issue, there was little debate before commissioners voted 5-0 to give preliminary approval to the proposed county budget of a little more than $1.30 billion for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

The budget represents a 1.41 percent increase from the current budget of a little more than $1.28 billion.

The proposed general fund tax rate is $3.95 per $1,000 of taxable property value, down from $4.16 per $1,000 in the current year. This is the sixth consecutive year that the proposed general countywide property tax rate has been reduced from the prior-year rate. 

The combined effect of an 8.97 percent increase in property values, new construction and the reduction in the general countywide property tax rate has resulted in increased general property tax revenue of $5.3 million for 2018-19.

Separate from the general fund, tax rates would decline in 18 taxing districts and would rise in the other four. These taxing districts cover such areas as law enforcement, fire control, recreation, roads, libraries, mosquito control and environmentally endangered lands.

The proposed aggregate tax rate, which represents all operational tax rates, is $6.03 per $1,000, down from current aggregate rate of $6.33 per $1,000. 

After the meeting, County Commissioner John Tobia said he was proud to vote for a budget "that did not require either a tax increase or busting the voter-approved charter cap." 

Commissioners voted 5-0 on eight of the nine budget-related votes on Tuesday.

The only no vote came from Isnardi, on a resolution related to fire services special assessments.

Isnardi said after the meeting that her no vote Tuesday was consistent with her opposition to a 6 percent increase on the fire assessment that commissioners approved in May for the 2018-19 budget year.

Isnardi said that while she supports giving Brevard County Fire Rescue the money it needs, she believes a 6 percent increase on the fire assessment rate was too much, and the county should have tried to find some of the money from other sources.

The County Commission's final budget hearing begins at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 25, after which commissioners will cast their final votes on the 2018-19 budget and tax rates. The hearing will be held in the County Commission meeting room at the Brevard County Government Center, 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Building C, Viera.

 Dave Berman is government editor at FLORIDA TODAY. 

Contact Berman at 321-242-3649

or dberman@floridatoday.com.

Twitter: @bydaveberman

Facebook: /dave.berman.54

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