Lane Transit District will suffer only mild budget cuts next year, thanks to stimulus money it received at the beginning of the year, the Lane Transit District Budget Committee announced with its approval of the 2009-10 fiscal year budget.
LTD will use the $6.5 million in stimulus money to sustain construction projects and update its maintenance center, but it wasn’t enough to continue spending money at the current levels.
“We didn’t want to make any cuts, but we are relieved that we only had to make 2.5 percent to 3 percent cuts, instead of 14 percent cuts like we were anticipating,” LTD spokesperson Andy Vobora said.
LTD eliminated 14 positions, including a mechanic position, a customer service person, a human resources person and 11 bus operators. However, Vobora confirmed that only four people were laid off.
“We tried hard to cut positions through attrition, retirement and through furlough days,” he said. “Most people were pleasantly surprised by how few cuts we had to make in staffing. We had kept them informed throughout the entire process of budget, so it wasn’t like they didn’t know cuts were coming.”
Administrative employees must accept a salary without a cost-of-living adjustment, while health insurance costs for employees are estimated to increase by 10 percent.
To help and encourage employees to retire, $700,000 was infused into LTD’s pension plan to address the growing insecurity in the investment market.
To guard against rising fuel prices, Vobora said LTD is purchasing and storing diesel and has already managed to buy a six-month supply.
“Last year when fuel got up close to $4, it caused a $1-million spike in our budget,” he said. “All we are trying to do is prevent against it this year.”
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