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Boards weigh $30/hr seasonal driver pay, data collection and ITP funding as transit demand grows
Summary
Staff recommended increasing seasonal START driver pay to $30/hour to remain competitive, proposed an ITP update for $70,000 plus up to $120,000 for data collection/modeling; boards tentatively supported the data investment but clarified funding will need to be identified.
Town and county staff debated two linked transportation items: START driver pay and an update to the Integrated Transportation Plan (ITP) supported by expanded data collection.
On START, staff recommended raising all seasonal drivers to a $30-per-hour minimum to remain competitive with seasonal wages in comparable resort communities; the START board originally requested increasing full-time operator pay to the same level, which staff declined to recommend to avoid deviating from the town’s overall compensation philosophy. Director Tonnell (START) said the agency lost applicants last season to resorts and that a $30 rate for seasonals reflects market competition.
"When we lost some employees this last season...they went to those resorts," START Director Tonnell said, arguing the seasonal wage lift is needed to recruit and retain drivers.
On the ITP, Transportation Manager Dr. Charlotte Frey described a baseline $70,000 scope to update the ITP and a separate $120,000 professional-services item for annual data collection and scenario modeling (seasonal counts, traffic modeling, mitigation scenarios). Frey and commissioners discussed folding some TDM (transportation demand management) and guaranteed-ride-home items into the data/modeling budget, noting that funding sources need identification.
Boards indicated tentative support for adding the data-collection/modeling funds to the ITP update—staff said the work could be scaled (and some items delayed) if the boards prefer a smaller budget—but cautioned that the cost would have to be found elsewhere in the budget or by delaying hires and other work-plan items.
What’s next: staff will refine scopes and present funding options; the town and county will continue to negotiate final compensation and professional-services funding as part of the FY27 budget process.
