POUGHKEEPSIE – When Poughkeepsie Mayor Robert Rolison introduced his 2017 budget it only included funding for the city’s bus system through June. The reasoning was that the city cannot afford to maintain its bus service and the Dutchess County LOOP system could absorb it with little to no service interruption. City Council Chairman Chris Petsas disagrees and so do many of the city’s residents who rely on the city bus service.
Several rallies and protests have been held at city hall and on Monday night, the protestors took their message to the county legislature. Many speakers, including Helen Clausen, urged the county to “leave our city buses and drivers alone.” Clausen, like many others in the gallery, are concerned that the county’s system is run by First Transit, based in Ohio, and the company has no relationship with the riders in Poughkeepsie.
City resident Sheila Drew, 81, is a regular rider on the city buses and she said they are far better than the county service.
“We get no real service from LOOP and if you complain, it goes on deaf ears,” Drew said. “I have commuted for years on LOOP; I have commuted on the city bus. The city bus is far better. It’s a different kind of service.”
Poughkeepsie City Council Chairman Chris Petsas joined his city residents in speaking. He tied the bus “merger” into the ongoing sales tax debate between himself and County Executive Marcus Molinaro. Petsas told the lawmakers that “today the county is sitting on a $57 million surplus while the city is drowning.”
Petsas blamed the city’s deficit on a renegotiated sales tax agreement that saw the city lose $6.8 million in sales tax to the county. “Please help the City of Poughkeepsie. We have helped this county through the redistribution of sales taxes to your coffers. You guys are doing great. We are not.”
The county, in their 2017 budget, approved late on Monday night, set aside money in the event that the county takes over the city’s bus system. According to Legislator James Miccio of Fishkill, “Dutchess County does not want to take over the city bus system.” Of the earmarked money, Miccio said it is there in the event that the city cannot fund its own transit system past June of 2017.
