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June 13, 2024
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Hinesburg considers pulling membership
Barn cat
GMTA, Tri-Valley Transit endorse move LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
PHOTO BY LEE KROHN
A cat poses in doorway in Charlotte.
Hinesburg Selectboard members are mulling the decision on whether to pull out of their deal with Green Mountain Transit Authority — a move the board is expected to finalize at its meeting June 19. Should Hinesburg officially pull out, the transit authority would be down to eight member towns funding the service with municipal tax dollars each year — Burlington, South Burlington, Shelburne, Williston, Essex, Winooski, Milton and parts of Colchester. Other towns contribute small fees, but the agency only has authority to assess its members. The decision comes after the board began to question the fairness of its annual contribution of $52,000 last year around the same time that the town faced a nearly 7 percent increase in taxes. The 116 Commuter, which runs through Hinesburg, has four runs that pass-through town each day, two of which are operated by GMTA, and the other two operated by Tri-Valley Transit, a smaller nonprofit transit service with a roughly $7 million operating budget. “Hinesburg has always paid their municipal contribution directly to GMT and then a certain portion of that has been funneled
through to support Tri-Valley Transits portion of that service,” executive director of Tri-Valley Transit, Jim Moulton, said. Should Hinesburg rescind its GMTA membership, Tri-Valley Transit’s board of directors officially gave the green light last week to take over full operation of the route starting in September. Hinesburg must notify GMTA that it will be removing itself as a member one year in advance of the effective date. In this case, Hinesburg would officially be removed starting in July 2025. “We would pay our assessment to GMTA and then GMTA and Tri-Valley Transit would work out how to transfer whatever amount of funds need to be transferred to Tri-Valley Transit,” town manager Todd Odit said at the May 15 board meeting. While the decision does not inherently mean it will save the town of Hinesburg any money, Odit said that it does offer more negotiating power since the town will not be billed an annual assessment. “Tri-Valley Transit wouldn’t have assessment authority over Hinesburg,” he said. “With GMTA, there’s no negotiating of the assessment. Based on the bill, we have to pay it. With this change, there’s at least an opportunity to negotiate, to See GMTA on page 16
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