04-30-07 Item 7D, Care-A-Van Funding Request

Home Browse Search

MEMORANDUM ~ ~~HILLS DATE: April 30, 2007 AGENDA ITEM 7.D. SUBJECT: Mayor and City Council Michelle Wolfe, City Administrator 1\ ~ \ ~ Care-A -Van Funding Request \ V \: TO: FROM: BACKGROUND Earlier this year, staff at the cities of Shoreview, New Brighton, Mounds View, and Arden Hills were approached by Nick Temali of Mounds View School District (MVSD) Community Education to discuss the Care-A-Van program. This topic was then discussed at a Mayors and Managers meeting. DISCUSSION I have attached some brief background information about the service. MVSD has been facing an increasing subsidy for continuing the Care-A-Van service. During their most recent fiscal year, the service cost about $26,000. Mr. Temali indicated at that time that in order for MVSD to maintain this service, he believes that there needs to be a supplemental revenues source to provide about $15,000 per year. Based on the percentage of rides provided to residents in each community, if this amount was spread out amongst the four cities, the cost allocation would be as follows: Shoreview: 40% $6,000 New Brighton 38% $5,400 Mounds View 14% $2,100 Arden Hills 10% $1,500 We were asked to see if our respective City Councils would support this level of contribution for this service. At this time, I believe that the City of Shoreview is the only city that has addressed this issue. They first discussed it in February. At that time, they indicated that they felt this was a good service that clearly requires a subsidy each year. However, they had questions about the efficiency of the service, who is using the service and for what purposes, and the per trip subsidy. In summary, they indicated a desire for more information before being comfortable with providing direction regarding funding.