SUN-GAZETTE FILE PHOTO

To be clear, the funding in Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed budget for mass transit, which includes an allocation for River Valley Transit Authority (RVTA), would not be used in the ongoing repayment of $1.4 million in funds owed by the City of Williamsport to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), an administrator at RVTA said.

The city is repaying prior funding from the FTA due to illegality committed by a former city finance director when the city operated the former River Valley Transit, said River Valley Transit Authority Executive Director Todd Wright.

“The budgeted funding in an approved budget goes to RVTA for regular operational expenses and has nothing to do with repayment to the FTA,” said Wright in response to the headline of a story published by Northcentral Pa. on June 8. The headline stated: “If Shapiro’s budget passes, River Valley Transit could recoup misspent funds.”

The story went on to connect Shapiro’s budget proposal, which does have an extra $1.39 million in it for the Williamsport-based bus service, saying that is about the same amount as what the city owes the FTA. Shapiro’s budget proposal for use of operational expenses at RVTA and the repayment by the city are separate issues, which Wright clarified.

Additionally, the $1.39 million additional in the proposed budget could be tweaked by state legislators, he said.

The repayments are a separate matter, and were agreed upon after investigation revealed federal transit grant misuse and misallocation by a former administrator, William E. Nichols Jr., 72, who is serving a year’s probation after pleading guilty May 5 in Dauphin County Court on theft by failure to make required disposition of funds and tampering with public records.

Currently, the state allocation in the proposed budget is $6.2 million, for RVTA which has an annual budget of $10 million, Wright said.

The RVTA board has been informed by the state that current public transportation law guarantees transit agencies funding at the level of the prior year, according to Meredith Biggica, Deputy Secretary Multimodal Transportation, who provided details in a letter to Wright on March 21.

In order to ensure funding will be in place at the start of the fiscal year, the department is awarding the same amount it awarded in FY 2024-25. The RVTA’s Section 1513 allocation will be $6,237,634.

“We will adjust your grant to include any increases after the passage of the budget,” Biggica wrote to Wright. “Should the Governor’s Executive Budget Proposal be enacted as proposed, your allocation would increase by approximately $1,394,950.”

As required in Act 89 of 2013, RVTA is expected to provide local funding of $543,957, an increase of 5%, since it is not at the full 15% match. Local match may change as a result of the budget negotiations, and the state will inform the transit system of any changes to local match as a result of increases in operating funds as soon as it knows, Biggica noted.

Since July 1, 2022, the RVTA board has worked directly with the authority’s executive director as the title of executive director is the former general manager.

The state urged RVTA to “prudently manage your operating expenses” to ensure future fiscal sustainability.