March 29, 2024

HIRTA reports local $146K loss, requests supervisors suspend payments

$900,000 cuts across seven associated counties

Months after abrupt changes in Medicaid funding, the Heart of Iowa Regional Transit Agency (HIRTA) reports a $146,000 loss in operations in Jasper County from 2017 to 2018, requiring the central Iowa public transit service to administer $900,000 in budget cuts across all seven of its corresponding counties for the fiscal year 2019.

This was the report from HIRTA Business Development Manager Brooke Ramsey told the Jasper County Board of Supervisors Tuesday.

Since Medicaid is no longer willing to reimburse for transportation, significant changes were made to HIRTA services in Jasper, Boone, Dallas, Madison, Marion, Story and Warren Counties, including the elimination of positions and driver layoffs in some communities. Ramsey said the impact of the changes was noticeable in January.

Although it was one of HIRTA’s goals to reduce its reliance on federal grant programs — as listed in its 10-year strategic plan issued in 2017 — Ramsey said the organization was only given a three-week notice the Medicaid changes would affect revenue late last fall.

“Specifically, the supportive community living, which are folks who live in group home settings. So a lot of Progress Industries clients,” Ramsey said.

Progress Industries is a nonprofit organization that provides support and services for people with physical and intellectual disabilities in central Iowa. Total passenger revenues, including Progress Industries clients, only cover about two percent of HIRTA’s overall revenue stream, Ramsey said.

HIRTA attempted to negotiate a rate following the Medicaid changes, but Ramsey said Progress Industries did not have the extra revenue to cover the cost.

“They were kind of struggling there and they really wanted us to continue to provide the rides for them,” Ramsey said. “They’re going to have to get folks out of their building and more integrated into the community doing outings in smaller groups and not such large groups, so we anticipate continuing to see increased demand from them for services.”

Although Jasper County did not have to remove any positions or require employee layoffs, HIRTA has cut back on everything from office supplies to software projects, among other things.

“We just don’t have the room with the demand for services to cut back any drivers here,” Ramsey said. “We’re looking at anything we can do to help with those costs.”

To alleviate the effects of the Medicaid changes, Ramsey approached the board of supervisors and requested the members to suspend HIRTA’s monthly payment of $487 to its office space. Before moving forward with the fiscal year suspension — which totals $5,844 annually — the board voted 3-0 to approve the renewal of the agency’s lease at the Jasper County Community Center.

To eliminate, further reductions, HIRTA filed a request for proposal and managed to negotiate lower maintenance expenses on its buses. The public transit service also sent a request for proposal for a van pool program to transport people to work, which could become a revenue benefit for the organization. Ramsey estimates the program will reach HIRTA’s Board of Directors approval by late September.

HIRTA also plans to create a deviated bus route in Newton highlighting places like medical facilities, the courthouse and local shopping centers, which Ramsey said in the short term would have an additional cost; however, the Iowa Department of Transportation does have special program funding where HIRTA can write a grant requesting to help get that funded through the first year. The long-term benefit is it would operate more efficiently than the HIRTA’s current door-to-door services.

Board member Joe Brock sympathized with Ramsey and said he knew she would not appear before the board unless there was a real crisis, suggesting the problem might be attributed to a higher governing power.

“I think we’re starting to see the beginning of the federal government dumping on the local taxpayers. We’ve been through this before. This is just the beginning for you,” Brock said to Ramsey. “Would you agree with that?”

Ramsey answered, “I think it’s hard. We don’t know what the federal government is going to do. That’s why our strategic plan we talked about is a 10-year plan (and includes) reduced reliance on federal dollars because we’ve seen a decrease in federal funding for the last three years. ... We just didn’t anticipate the Medicaid changes. That was really a state decision and not a federal decision.”

In other action Tuesday, the board:

• Approved a three-year service agreement with the Cerberus FTP Server Professional program for the Jasper County Courthouse. Jasper County Auditor Dennis Parrott said Cerberus is a security software package for communication with election equipment in the courthouse that typically costs $300 for one year. To save money, the county opted for a three-year extension which costs $800.

• Gave Jasper County Treasurer Doug Bishop its blessing to fill one of the open clerk positions. Since he took over his position in January 2016, Bishop said there were five open clerks positions: a deputy, two full-time clerks and two part-time clerks. When the last deputy left, the treasurer’s office absorbed those responsibilities. Although Bishop said he believes in running a tight ship, the heavy workload might require another person.

• Approved the cancellation of four outstanding warrants, which are more than one-year-old, pursuant to the Code of Iowa sections 331.427 and 331.554.

• Approved the recorder’s monthly report for July 2018. The total fee collected for August 2018 was approximately $17,600.

• Approved the liquor license for Iowa Beer Bus.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com