2027 Rural Transit Funding still in flux

By Tyler DeFord
Interim Editor

In 2026, as of Oct. 30, the Rural Transit service provided 5,748 rides to individuals in Owen County. In 2027, however, the picture is slightly less clear. As of this writing, the Rural Transit service provided by Area 10 Agency on Aging is still $30,315 short of their proposed 2027 operating budget in Owen County. Without contributions of $100,059 from Owen County partners, the Rural Transit service is in jeopardy of reducing service for not just Owen County, but three other counties being served by the program.

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A regional initiative

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The Rural Transit program is a program of Area 10 Agency on Aging. The program covers Owen, Monroe, Lawrence, and Putnam counties. Funding for the program falls into one basket, with each county contributing funds proportional to each county’s use. Owen County accounted for 19.11% of ridership, so their proportion of the overall budget amounts to $100,059 for 2027. The budget for the program also includes a 50% match from the Federal Transit Administration 5311 Grant. Any shortfall from Owen County also lowers the grant match for the four-county area that Rural Transit serves.
“I’m getting concerned that we’re not going to get the match required to pull down the [federal] money to serve, and it doesn’t just affect Owen County because it’s a grant for all four counties,” said Amy Guerrettaz, Area 10’s Executive Director.

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A solitary holdout

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For 2027, Owen County is the last county that has yet to properly allocate funding out of the four-county group. According to Guerrettaz, Owen County is often either late to allocate funding, or has trouble providing it at all. In the other three counties, government entities, including towns and counties, create a line item in their respective budgets to fund the Rural Transit for their area. This allows Area 10 to start its federal grant application as soon as the “local match” has been promised.
In Owen County, the funding process has often been more time-consuming. In the past, some funding has come from county and town governments with additional funding coming from several smaller private entities such as Sweet Owen Industries and Stone Belt. In the past some funding came from the Owen County Health Department as well.
So far for 2027, most of the previous funders have pledged their contributions including the Town of Spencer. However, the Owen County government itself still hasn’t made it clear how much they are contributing, if any at all.
A resolution in limbo
In April, the commissioners approved a resolution confirming their support for the Rural Transit program. The resolution did not specify any specific amount or allocation, only that the county was in support of the program. Since then, Guerrettaz has had less and less luck getting responses from the commissioners.
“While Owen County did sign an authorizing resolution, they didn’t commit to a specific amount, which is what led me to go before the county council leading up to their budget meeting and the finalization of their budget requesting money for this public transportation,” she said. “They did not [end up putting] it in their budget.”

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A future in jeopardy

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The majority of Rural Transit riders are low-income, senior citizens, or both. Many riders rely on the transit to get them to the grocery store each week or take them to necessary medical appointments. Many riders don’t have the ability to drive or don’t have reliable transportation. Disabled adults from Sweet Owen Industries and Stone Belt also take advantage of the Rural Transit.
“The most dire thing that I think about is the people who rely on us for things like dialysis,” Guerrettaz said.

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A potential way forward

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Owen County Council Vice President Anton Neff noted that county funding for the Rural Transit had previously come from a community grants program but that grant program was stopped several years ago.
According to Neff, “The council is in the process of exploring having a local grant program like that again which would be of benefit to Rural Transit and other similar groups, but that has not been fully developed or adopted yet. Stay tuned.”
County Commissioner Norm Warner expressed support for the program, stressing that it was an important program that many in the county utilize and that while there is no budget line item in place, additional appropriations could be utilized to provide funding to the program.
In the meantime, the Rural Transit program is still in need of $30,315 to keep operations going at the same rate.
“We’ll keep fighting for the people of Owen County because we know our riders and we know that they rely on us for vital things that they otherwise wouldn’t have transportation for,” Guerrettaz said. “We would just keep trying, but ultimately if we [don’t] keep up with [the funding] we’ll have to decrease the service in some way because we won’t be able to afford to operate it.”

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