Prince Albert City Council during budget deliberations on Nov. 7 (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

Paratransit funding

Some special needs transit under threat after budget talks

Nov 12, 2019 | 4:25 PM

The P.A. Community Service Centre says they will have to make cuts to paratransit services after city council did not meet their request for increased funding.

“We were expecting at the very least that we would be able to maintain our current level of service, that we wouldn’t have to be clawing back” CEO Bill Powolinski told paNOW after the council’s decision during last week’s budget deliberations.

“This is truly a dark day.”

Powolinski said he and the organization’s board members had some “really serious decisions to make,” adding they would likely have to reduce evening service hours.

The Community Service Centre initially asked council for a $37,409 to cover rising wages and fuel costs, plus an additional $38,016 to eliminate waitlisted or refused trips. Last year just over 3,000 requests for service went unfilled.

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Coun. Dennis Ogrodnick was a vocal advocate of giving organization the full amount requested.

“This gives integrity to people with special needs, that’s what it’s about. It’s about treating them with respect,” he told council.

Mayor Greg Dionne said while he agreed the service was important, he couldn’t support increasing its funding by 14 per cent during a tight budget year. He cited council refused requests from the city’s own departments for additional staff.

“I’m sitting here representing the taxpayers,” he said.

“If I was representing my heart I’d give them $100,000 but I’m not.”

He added at $646,860 annually, subsidies to special needs transit are costing the city nearly as much as the public transit system which runs at a $986,760 deficit.

Some councillors also argued that the Community Service Centre could use reserve funding to bridge the gap.

“I think they can find the funds from within; this organization is not poor,” Coun. Don Cody said.

Powolinski said although the centre has approximately $200,000 in reserve funds, that money is fenced-off and can only be used for senior’s transportation, a separate service they operate.

“They’re playing with people’s lives,” he told paNOW.

“They’re willing to gamble that the agency will go into debt to provide a service. We’re a non-profit organization, we can’t afford to operate at a loss.”

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom