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Kootenai County transit department moves much of operations to FTA funding, cuts A and B budgets
Summary
Chad Ingle presented the transit department's FY26 budget plan to shift most personnel and operating costs to Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funding, cutting the A-budget entirely and shrinking the B-budget to roughly $3,000, while retaining small local line items the FTA will not cover.
Chad Ingle, transit director for Kootenai County, told commissioners the department's FY26 proposal largely moves salaries and eligible operating expenses onto Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funding. Ingle said the plan eliminates the A-budget allocation and reduces the B-budget by about 73 percent; the B-budget items left are those the FTA will not fund.
Ingle said the department retained three small local line items in the B-budget: $750 for seminars and professional associations (to use as match for training grants), a modest local meetings/refreshments line to support workshops the FTA will not cover, and $2,000 for merit-system awards, which the FTA cannot underwrite. He also noted a $200 equipment-repair line for a county-rented printer and said the department does not plan a C (capital) budget for FY26.
Board members asked whether any matching funds would be required for grants; Ingle said the only remaining budgeted match is the seminars/professional associations line. He also said the department would use in-kind matches, including Kootenai Health and tribal partners and tracked legal time where appropriate, rather than asking again for a $200,000 emergency allocation the board had considered previously.
Commissioners had no objection to forwarding the department's materials to the auditors for inclusion in the county budget process.
