ONTARIO – Though things didn’t get too fiery, there was a lot of talk of smoke at Ontario’s finance meeting earlier this week.
The committee decided law director Andrew Medwid should put the final budget in legislation form without including any funding for Richland County Transit (RCT).
Everyone except councilman Mark Weidemyre voted in favor of this.
Weidemyre argued that Ontario should contribute at least $5,000 because it has spent that amount for Fourth of July fireworks in past years and has allocated $10,000 for this purpose in the 2018 budget.
“If we’re going to blow $5,000 up in smoke … I think you just got to be fair,” Weidemyre said.
He explained many RCT board members were replaced at the turn of the year, which he expects will bring change. Plus, he noted RCT is willing to offer night and weekend trips.
“My complaint was if you’re saying retail benefits from this, people getting jobs, they also have to go to work at nights and they have to go to work on the weekends, so one of the things that they promised to look into and add would be some evenings,” Weidemyre said.
But other council members see the smoke coming from RCT.
“They can say all they want. ‘We’re going to change this.’ ‘We’re going to change that.’ ‘We’re going to do this,’” at-large councilman Ken Earhart said. “They’ve promised to give us numbers that were legitimate numbers for the past two or three years. We haven’t seen anything yet. They’re still blowing smoke.”
“In my opinion, until I see change, I say we’re still at zero.”
Second Ward councilwoman Michelle Webb added that council has only been presented with ridership numbers that include the buses going to and from Ohio State Mansfield and North Central State College, despite their requests for more retail-specific data.
At-large councilman Larry Arnold also expressed discontent with RCT. Like Webb and Earhart, he’s unhappy with the “only pieces” of information that have been provided, but he is additionally unsatisfied with how RCT representatives have approached council.
“They get up here, and they tell us how all these communities give them all this money, but they don’t give them all this money,” Arnold said.
He says the amount of money that Shelby and Mansfield contribute to the public transportation system has been exaggerated.
“They make us look like we’re these dastardly bad people because we don’t give them $10,000, $15,000.”
Shelby Mayor Steve Schag said Thursday his city contributes $6,145 in its portion of an agreement that also includes Pioneer Career and Technology Center and North Central State College.
Previously, the Richland Source has reported that Mansfield contributes $57,000 annually through a grant. Ontario doesn’t qualify for these type of grants.
According to commissioner Tony Vero, Richland County contributes $40,000 from its general fund annually for RCT.
In October 2017, Vero and others approached Ontario Council asking for a $10,000 contribution. Vero emphasized an opinion that Ontario benefits the most from public transportation.
“When I spent four hours on the bus, a vast majority of the people that rode that transit system got off in Ontario, spent money in Ontario, and Ontario got tax dollars for it,” Vero said at that time.
Ontario city council hasn’t passed its final budget yet. Once the legislation is prepared, it will be read and voted on at council. The next meeting is Wednesday, Feb. 7 at the Ontario Municipal Building.
Commissioner Vero expressed intentions Friday, Jan. 19 to attend the meeting and share RCT’s 2018 plans with council.
“While I understand the city’s position right now — they are trying to do what’s best for Ontario — but I’m going to go to the next meeting in February to see if they’ll reconsider,” Vero said.
