The Stark Area Regional Transit Board of Trustees announced Wednesday afternoon that the agency is cutting back on service routes, undergoing a hiring freeze and preparing to lay off dozens of employees next year due to a budget shortfall.
According to the board, SARTA will do the following:
- Institute a hiring freeze
- Eliminate all discretionary spending
- Implement a long-planned restructuring of ProLine, SARTA’s ADA paratransit service
- Discontinue five routes
- Late-Night Loops – Rt. 151, 152, 153
- Success-Express – Rt. 157
- Community Circulator – Rt. 158
- Prepare to lay off as many as 30 employees in February 2025
- Discuss additional reductions/revisions to transit service
The board said that while the agency is "fiscally stable" with $6 million in its reserve fund, "we cannot afford to continue to spend more than we collect."
Specifically, officials said the .25% sales tax that funds its revenue "would fall $1 million below the amount projected in the 2024 budget and projecting an additional $1 million shortfall in 2025."
"That is why we are taking immediate action to deal with the budgetary challenges we now face and will carefully plan for a future that may well include reductions in state and federal support for public transportation. It is important to note that the Board and SARTA’s entire staff remain totally committed to providing the safe, affordable transit service the residents of Stark County want, need, and deserve," the board said in a news release.
SARTA officials said more information would be released after tonight's regular board meeting.
