DELAWARE — The November election is less than a month away and there’s an initiative on the ballot that could increase opportunities for travel across Delaware County.
Delaware County Regional Transit Authority (DCRTA) is seeking a 0.2% sales and use tax levy that would support a new line of service in Powell and Liberty Township, expand existing services in the city of Delaware and Orange Township and grow the transportation system in other ways.
“The sales tax would be 20 cents on a taxable $100 purchase, or about $1 on a taxable $500 purchase,” DCRTA’s webpage on the levy says.
“For example, if you make a purchase of $98.75 before tax at a retailer, your final bill will go from $105.66 without the transit tax to $105.85 with it.”
Taxable goods are tangible items such as electronics, furniture, toys, but not groceries and medicine. Taxable services include fitness memberships, pest control, hotel room rentals, etc.
Why DCRTA chose a sales tax levy
DCRTA Executive Director Andy Volenik said the levy would net the agency $10.5 million in a calendar year and provide the opportunity to “essentially triple our service in the next five years.”
Volenik said DCRTA is seeking a sales tax levy instead of a property tax levy because it’s a proven system in the transportation industry.
“Sales tax is a tried-and-true method in transit,” he said. “All of our agency peers in the state of Ohio, with the exception of maybe one or two, do sales tax revenues because transit is ultimately a commerce-driven operation.”
“We get people to jobs, we get people to spending dollars — those are the top two reasons why people use our service. Sales tax is an appropriate mechanism to do this.”
Volenik said DCRTA could have looked to a property tax levy, but it would have been a less responsible decision.
According to DCRTA’s website, should the levy fail “DCRTA would operate as best we could with existing revenue from grants, contracts, fares and partnerships.”
Volenik added that the planned expansions would not be able to happen, and within a year, DCRTA would likely have to reduce its staff and services.
More on service expansions and customers’ needs
Should the levy pass, DCRTA also plans to:
- Expand City of Delaware FLEX service to seven days per week;
- Develop a same-day countywide Demand Response service;
- Expand FLEX microtransit throughout Orange Township;
- Establish a microtransit service in Powell and Liberty Township;
- Improve connections among transit service areas in southern Delaware County;
- Plan future commuter or express transportation services;
- Purchase and replace transit vehicles;
- Support the operation and maintenance of transit services;
- And evaluate an expansion of the existing transit facility or a satellite facility in southern Delaware County.
If the levy passes, Volenik expects DCRTA to reach 750,000 annual trips in the future, he previously told Delaware Source.
“We believe as the county grows, this needs to be part of the mobility solutions for the county,” Volenik said.
“Retail is the number one job in Delaware County. We also know that we have a tertiary workforce that leaves the county. There are also seniors who want to stay in their homes [and not drive]… We also know we have a mental health client base that needs access to their care, etc., etc.”
“Let alone our students who are driving less due to cost concerns. If we have so much good, shouldn’t you have the least amount of barriers to access it?”
How Delaware County Transit’s model differs from others
DCRTA does not operate on a fixed-route system like the Central Ohio Transportation Authority (COTA).
Currently, riders either have to call a day in advance for a driver to pick them up, or if they are in a FLEX zone, riders can use the app to order a ride that’ll arrive within minutes.
Volenik explained that a fixed-route system simply doesn’t work for Delaware County.
“[A fixed-route system] assumes that you have a lot of walkable distance to that line of service. Delaware County’s land use patterns do not encourage that,” Volenik said.
“If we were to have that, we’d have to have all of the municipalities agree today that we’re going to densify and do it over the next 20 years. That’s not happening. That is not what the market wants, it’s not what the county wants.”
That’s why DCRTA adopted the micro transit that acts as an Uber-like public transportation system they have today.
“That’s where growing this [micro transit system] becomes part of the services for your county,” Volenik said. “It becomes part of the infrastructure, it’s baked into this identity of ‘Yes, we have this service for you. You live here. This is yours.'”
