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Board tables decision on proposed Rowan Transit fare hike after financial questions
Summary
Rowan County held a public hearing on a proposal to raise certain Rowan Transit fares from $2 to $4 per trip to stretch grant funds; commissioners asked for a detailed budget breakdown and tabled a vote to the second meeting in April.
Valerie, a transit staff member, presented a proposed fare change for Rowan Transit that the advisory board discussed: raising certain fares from $2 per trip to $4 per trip, with the aim of reducing the rate at which grant funds are consumed and preserving services such as dialysis transport. Valerie said Rowan Transit’s fully allocated cost exceeds $4.25 per mile, FY25 operating expenses exceeded $1.5 million and that fares collected from the affected rider categories totaled about $7,042 last year.
Commissioners pressed for more detail on how much the county currently subsidizes transit, which rider categories would be directly affected and whether the proposed change would result in a net budget reduction or simply shift who pays. Several commissioners said they wanted a complete breakdown of county funding, grant sources and program-specific costs before voting. The board opened and closed the public hearing, then voted to table the decision and asked staff to return with a detailed budget and subsidy analysis at the next meeting (second meeting in April).
Valerie said any fare change would only affect dialysis clients and certain shared-ride rural/urban categories (not services funded by other human-service grants) and that collected fares are returned to transit operations rather than retained as a general revenue source.
The board’s tabling preserves the current fare structure while staff assembles the requested financial detail and outreach results for a future vote.
