As the Jefferson City Transit Division's building maintenance costs grow, city staff plan to replace some equipment within the next month and are looking toward facility planning to avoid financial hardships in the coming years.
Of the division's $2.5 million 2019 fiscal year budget - which began Nov. 1, 2018 - $25,000 is for building and grounds maintenance.
The Transit Division may spend up to $24,000 on potentially five replacement heaters for its bus barn within the next month, said Transit Division Director Mark Mehmert and Operations Supervisor Gerry Stegeman. This comes after the division spent nearly $2,200 on other building maintenance this fiscal year, Mehmert added.
"We're relatively young in the fiscal year; we started our fiscal year Nov. 1," Mehmert said. "This is a big impact on that. It may change our plans for what we'll tackle. But we'll try and fit in with what we have."
There are several other improvements transit staff wants to make, he said, such as upgrading the electrical components in the buildings.
Jefferson City has a capital improvements projects fund the transit staff could use to help purchase the heaters, Mehmert said. Transit staff also could request a supplemental appropriation, he added.
The buildings and grounds maintenance fund has increased since the 2015 fiscal year, which had $8,220 in its budget. In the 2018 fiscal year, the fund had $10,000.
With the transit buildings getting older - the bus barn was built around 1994, while the Transit Division Office and Central Maintenance facility was built in 1983 - Mehmert and Stegeman said they are seeing an increase in maintenance costs.
"The heaters are just a symptom of what we're dealing with," Mehmert said, adding the Transit Division also recently replaced garage doors and some guttering. "We're getting toward the tail-end of the useful life of these buildings, meaning our admin portion, as well as central maintenance. It's time to start looking how we might replace those facilities or upgrade them, if that's a feasible way to go."
Mehmert and Stegeman want to begin facility planning, which would include long-term goals for the buildings and funding options such as grants to upgrade or replace the buildings. The Transit Division also would seek the Jefferson City Public Transit Advisory Committee for guidance.
"You've always got to have some kind of plan or look to the future because if you never look to the future, all of a sudden it's here and you're not prepared for it," Stegeman said. "So you've got to estimate on where you think you're going to be in two years, five years, 10 years and plan accordingly."
Mehmert and Stegeman did not have a timeline for beginning the facility planning process, but Mehmert said it would be soon.