November 3, 2011 (Portsmouth, Ohio) – For the third straight quarter this year Access Scioto County continued to operate below budget, according to Access Scioto County (ASC) Transit Coordinator Larry Mullins.

Service cuts and reduction of operating hours following the first quarter of 2010 along with staff resignations earlier this year helped the below budget trend continue at ASC.

The operating expenses for ASC through the end of the third quarter, including capitalized maintenance, were some $100,000 under the projected third quarter budget of $630,444.

The operating expenses for this year’s third quarter of $530,205 compares to $579,635 for the third quarter of last year.

ASC was operating at $5,587 below budget at this time last year after starting the year $21,178 over budget and with the prospect of ending 2010 some $104,000 over budget unless the trend was turned around.

Following the first quarter in 2010 service cuts and reduction in hours of several staff members were instituted in order to avoid the year end deficit.

Operating expenses have dropped some 8.5% going from $579,635 during the third quarter of last year to $530,205 this year.

Expenses declined in most categories through the end of the third quarter this year with the exception of fuel which increased by some $10,883 or nearly 20% from the third quarter of last year.

“Luckily fuel prices stabilized somewhat during this year’s third quarter and actually had a period of time in which they declined or the increase in fuel costs would have been much greater this year”, Mullins said.  

ASC also traveled some 7,627 miles less during this year’s third quarter compared to last year. This also helped hold fuel costs down somewhat compared to last year.  Fuel costs for ASC are running nearly $11,000 over last year’s third quarter and are up nearly $22,000 as compared to the third quarter of 2009. Mullins added, “On the brighter side this year’s third quarter fuel costs are over $45,000 less than those of the third quarter of 2008 when the annual fuel costs reached nearly $112,000 that year”.

Currently ASC fuel costs are projected to be approximately $90,000 for 2011.

After five consecutive quarters of remaining under budget dating back to the end of the second quarter of last year Mullins said he felt comfortable enough that the budget cutting measures implemented over the past couple of years had stabilized the financial situation at ASC that he approached the Scioto County Commissioners to request permission to replace one of the staff members that had resigned earlier this year and to give the ASC employees a slight raise.  In addition all employees that had their hours cut back to 32 hours last year were given the opportunity to return to 40-hour weeks.

The office is still only operating 8am-4:30pm Monday through Thursday and the service cuts that have been enacted still remain in effect.

“It is hoped that if the financial picture continues to improve at ASC these cuts can be rolled back and the office can reopen on Friday also” Mullins said.

According to Mullins, revenues were down approximately 11.5% from last year going from $600,169 in 2010 to $531,087 this year at ASC.

Revenues for this year’s third quarter included $256,970 in federal funds, $60,480 in state funds, no state elderly and disabled fare assistance funds, $24,905 in general public fares, $166,117 in contract revenue, $3,510 in advertising revenue and $19,104 in capitalized maintenance funds.

This compares to $267,814 in federal funds, $80,113 in state funds, $4,610 in state elderly and disabled fare assistance funds, $33,963 in general public fares, $186,758 in contract revenue, $2,690 in advertising revenue and $24,221 in capitalized maintenance funds that were received during the 2010 third quarter. 

State and federal funding along with contract revenues continued to be steady through the third quarter with no additional cuts anticipated through the end of the year.

Even though revenues dropped over $69,000 from the third quarter of last year ASC finished the quarter in the black with revenues out pacing expenses by just $881.

“This is a good indicator that expenses are running just about right compared to our revenue”, Mullins said.

Ridership continued to be down in every category through the end of the third quarter as compared to last year according to Mullins.

Total ridership dropped approximately 8.3% during the third quarter going from 34,924 passengers transported during the third quarter of 2010 to 32,039 this year.

According to Mullins, the trend of declining ridership, which can be attributed to the reduction in staff and service cuts, began in May of 2009 when ASC lost its PRC and Title XX contracts with the Scioto County Department of Job and Family Services.

“With fewer drivers on the road each day the amount of trips that ASC is able to perform has been reduced”, explained Mullins.  “In addition, the cuts in the days and hours that ASC operates and the reduction in frequency in which ASC travels to various parts of the county has given passengers fewer opportunities to book trips”, Mullins added.

Trip turndowns, refusals and denials were up 123.5% from last year going from 68 through the end of the third quarter in 2010 to 152 this year.  “This is also a by-product of the reduction of staff and the service cuts”, Mullins said.

 Contract ridership was down over 11% declining from 12,136 passengers in 2010 to 10,761 this year while general public ridership dropped slightly over 6.6% slipping from 22,788 passengers transported during the third quarter of last year to only 21,278 this year.

 According to Mullins, passenger No Shows continued to drop with a decline of 9.2% through the end of the third quarter as compared to last year. While good progress has been made during the past few years No Shows continue you to be a major threat to the success of ASC.  Mullins said, “Leroy Hackworth is now in charge of the No Show reduction endeavors and is making a very aggressive effort to improve the ASC No Show rate”.  “I am is very pleased with his efforts and is sure they will pay off with continued reduction in the No Show problem”, Mullins stated.

 According to Mullins, ASC completed its second and final capital project this year when it replaced its aging telephone system at the ASC office during the third quarter.

The Scioto County Commissioners opened seal bids for the replacement of the ASC phone system on Tuesday July 19, 2011.  Two bids were received by the Commissioners one from Total Systems Integration (TSI) of Galion, Ohio for $10,825 and one from Microman, Inc. doing business as Telephony Data Solutions (TDS) of Dublin, Ohio for $7,186.99.

TDS was awarded the contract and installed the new telephone system on August 26, 2011.

“The company has installed phone systems in the Courthouse, the Scioto County Sheriff’s Department and several area businesses throughout the Portsmouth area in the past and the system installed at ASC is their most advance system to date” Mullins said.

According to Mullins, ninety percent of the total cost of the project was funded with money from a capital improvements grant from the Federal Transit Administration with the remainder of the project’s funding coming from the ASC Capital Replacement Fund.  

“It has been a good year so far for ASC”, Mullins Said. “I am optimistic that we will finish the year in pretty good shape.”