Friday, August 6, 2004

Why ?piggybanking? in time of need?


So-called ?rainy day? funds created by gov-ernment to meet emergencies have their place. But can ?rainy day? funds be justified when it?s raining?

Blaine County taxpayers can reasonably ask how come the new county budget of $20.76 million includes $4.9 million stashed away as surplus--24 percent of the total budget.

As one critic, state Rep. Wendy Jaquet, pointed out, the state reserves about 5 percent of its budget. So Blaine County?s 24 percent puts it in a league of its own.

While that surplus lies idle, demands go begging.

One need that comes instantly to mind is a countywide bus system with aggressively more frequent service to accommodate a growing demand for public transit. This need goes far beyond just providing wheels for commuters. More frequent service on more routes would deal with another phenomenon--workers in the Wood River Valley who cannot find affordable housing moving farther from their jobs. The latest example: closing of mid-valley J&C Mo-bile Home Park, which throws another 31 fami-lies out onto the street in search of housing they can afford.

The Peak Bus system is showing it is in growing demand.

In June, Peak Bus carried 3,158 passengers, a new high. At the end of May (Peak Bus con-siders its business year June to May), it finished the year with 27,944 passenger trips, a 41 per-cent increase over the 19,768 passenger trips for the year ending in May 2003.

This took nearly 14,000 cars off congested State Highway 75 and kept them from clogging up parking in Ketchum.

Mind you, this essentially is done with a 15-passengerr bus owned by the county and two larger 47-passenger buses leased from Sun Valley Express that operate limited runs in the morning, afternoon and midday.

As the stock of affordable housing continues to shrink, and workers move farther from work, a larger transit fleet serving a wider route sys-tem becomes an obvious public necessity.

This is where the county and some of its $4.9 million slush fund comes in--either ex-panding the service with a county-owned fleet or providing funds for leasing a fleet.

It?s also worth mentioning this: the valley is bound to have a new airport in another 15 years, more than likely 20 to 25 miles from the present Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey, which may or may not be preserved and limited to non-airline traffic.

Public ground transportation between a new and larger airport and the Wood River Valley is certain to be an indispensable ancillary service associated with the airport.

If Blaine County has a larger and more ex-perienced public transit system in operation, the county would be far ahead in its ability to pro-vide an essential support service for the area?s economy as well the convenience of travelers and airport employees commuting to their jobs.




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