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Transit authority asks Vienna council to place excess levy renewal before voters
Summary
The transit authority asked the Vienna City Council to consider a resolution to place a renewal of the excess levy that funds the MOBTA/E-Z Rider bus service on an upcoming ballot; presenters said paperwork will be ready for the next council meeting and noted the levy requires at least 60% approval in each municipality.
Andrew Wolfram, an attorney who represents the regional transit authority, asked the Vienna City Council to consider a resolution at an upcoming meeting to put a renewal of the excess transit levy before voters.
Wolfram said the excess levy, used since the 1970s to fund the MOBTA/E‑Z Rider system that serves Parkersburg and Vienna, traditionally runs on a two‑year cycle and has been approved by voters in both cities. “We are just asking that council approve at an upcoming meeting submitting this matter to the voters and let the voters decide,” Wolfram said, noting that as an excess levy it requires at least 60% approval from each municipality.
The request was procedural rather than a plea for an endorsement: Wolfram and other transit representatives said they were seeking council authorization to put the question on a future ballot, not a policy endorsement. He described ridership as “pretty level” since the COVID period and emphasized the transit authority’s role in local mobility and economic attraction, noting the system’s roughly 70% Parkersburg / 30% Vienna funding split historically.
Council members asked whether the measure could be timed to coincide with higher‑turnout elections such as the general election. Wolfram said synchronization is possible but would require altering the levy schedule and coordinating with Parkersburg, adding that in one instance a primary election result that failed was later approved at the general election. The transit team also answered route questions: weekday routes run to 60th Street and Hillview Terrace, and Saturday service passes the senior center hourly, with possible deviations or a student route to WVUP when that campus opens.
On logistics, Wolfram said the paperwork for an order/resolution should be ready for the next council meeting. No formal vote to place the question on the ballot was recorded at this session; the council received the presentation and asked staff to prepare the required documentation.
Next steps: the transit authority will supply finalized documentation for council consideration at a future meeting; if council approves an order or resolution, the municipality would formally place the levy question before voters according to the schedule the council adopts.
