By ALLISON WOOD
Staff Writer

LAFAYETTE TWP. — The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency’s governing board approved allocating $11.1 million for local transit authorities Friday, which includes $305,000 for Medina County Transit and $38,000 for the Brunswick Transit Alternative.

This funding, contingent on the Ohio Department of Transportation’s cooperation, also will allow the Regional Transit Authority to continue operating the No. 451 route that goes from Brunswick to downtown Cleveland for an additional year.

The funding is a one-time measure that will be used toward reducing service cuts and paying for the increased costs of diesel fuel, NOACA Executive Director Howard Maier said.

“It was an urgent situation; we had to act on it quickly,” he said during the meeting.

The largest share of the funding is for the Regional Transit Authority, which will receive about $9 million, while Lorain County Transit will receive $645,000, LAKETRAN will receive $1 million and Geauga County Transit will receive $136,000.

The emergency resolution was passed at NOACA’s executive board meeting held at the Medina County University Center, but the allocations were approved last month by NOACA’s Transportation Advisory Council. Originally, Medina and Geauga counties were not allocated any funding at all.

RTA President Joe Calabrese said the funding would be used to temporarily delay the proposed closings of many bus routes and reduce a proposed 50-cent rate hike to 25 cents that were going to be implemented to offset a $20 million deficit.

RTA’s wage and hiring freeze will continue, he added.

The resolution also called for NOACA to urge the Ohio General Assembly to approve more funding for transit when the state’s two-year budget is passed next year, a point several members, including Elyria Mayor Bill Grace, emphasized during the discussion.

The executive board consists of elected officials and others, such as county engineers and transit directors, from Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain and Medina counties.

The funding technically will come from unused federal Congestion Mitigation/Air Quality funds that were given to NOACA by ODOT, even though this funding is usually used for capital projects like purchasing buses. How it will wash out is NOACA will return the federal funds to ODOT, which in turn will re-allocate them to NOACA for transit purposes.

“The ball is in ODOT’s court,” Medina County Commissioner Stephen Hambley said after the meeting.

Lorain County Commissioner Betty Blair said the additional funding will prevent Lorain County Transit from making any more service cuts or raising fares.

“We would have had to do more this year,” she said after the meeting. “We’re very grateful.”

The board also approved funding for two construction projects in Medina County — resurfacing Greenwich Road from state Route 3 to the ramp east of state Route 57 and resurfacing of U.S. Route 42 between Brunswick and Medina. The projects are estimated to be completed in 2010.

Wood may be reached at 330-721-4050 or allisonwood@ohio.net.

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