PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson Transit board members authorized interim General Manager Dan Di Guilio to apply for a line of credit of up to $249,999 through Kitsap Bank to temporarily relieve the agency’s finances.
“It allows us to pay our bills until we get stabilized,” Di Guilio said after the transit board’s Tuesday meeting at Mountain View Commons in Port Townsend.
The board delayed adoption of an amended budget to reflect new revenue generated by a voter-approved 0.3 percent sales tax increase, revenue that will not begin to come in until Sept. 30.
A special meeting could be called to expedite action, and according to board members, the line of credit did not have to be spent, just made available to meet financial needs.
The board directed Di Guilio and other staff members to craft an amended budget that would allow Transit to meet its monthly expenses.
Transit’s 2011 budget, as amended, now proposes an allocation of $3.8 million for operating expenses, total operating revenues of $266.610 and total nonoperating revenues of $3.7 million.
When the board amends it, the budget is expected to reflect $1.73 million in total capital expenses and total capital revenue of $1.65 million.
The board chose not to approve the amended budget until Di Guilio brought back a new proposal.
Also Tuesday, the board authorized Di Guilio to sign transit employee paychecks and act as the agency’s auditing officer.
Di Guilio, 61, former Clallam Transit general manager and current Port Angeles mayor, joined Jefferson Transit on April 4, replacing Peggy Hanson, who resigned.
He served as general manager for Clallam Transit System for nine years, retiring in 2004, and will be paid the same as Hanson, $7,083 a month, though without benefits, except for travel reimbursement.
The ballot measure voters approved in February, which added 3 cents to each $10 purchase, was expected to generate $1.1 million for Jefferson Transit, according to projections.
It increased the county sales tax to 9 percent, making Jefferson County’s sales tax the highest on the North Olympic Peninsula. The sales tax rate in the city of Sequim is 8.6 percent. In the rest of Clallam County, it is 8.4 percent.
The Jefferson Transit board — made up of the three county commissioners and two Port Townsend City Council members — said the measure would allow the public bus agency to maintain existing services.
The board approved a 2011 budget Dec. 28 that did not include projections of revenue from the proposed tax increase.
Transit board members late last year approved operating and capital fund budgets of about $5.1 million that would have meant layoffs and service cuts had voters rejected the sales tax increase.
The board Tuesday also authorized paying $13,000 to Clarity Enterprises Inc. for temporary finance administrator services, provided by Tina Flores-McCleese until April 30.
The board seeks a permanent finance administrator.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
