There will be new faces in the Mayor's chair and in four ward seats when a new council is chosen on Oct. 27. (Samantha Craggs)
At least one city councillor says taxpayers are spending money they shouldn't on Hamilton's DARTS paratransit service, including paying for an employee's graduate degree. But the head of the organization says the service is set up to run a deficit.
In a special meeting Tuesday, city councillors voted to once again review the Disabled and Aged Regional Transportation System, this time in 2015. Their numerous concerns included the service's projected $600,000 deficit for 2014 — even greater than the $225,993 deficit the city covered last year.
Mark Mindorff, executive director of DARTS, says the deficit stems from getting calls from more riders than the service has budgeted for. It doesn't turn away riders, he said, so the budget ends up greater than expected.
"It sounds like incompetence when you have to fund a deficit," he told councillors. But "it's almost expected as the trip counts go up."
But Coun. Brad Clark of Ward 9 in Stoney Creek didn't buy it. He quizzed Mindorff on numerous budget overruns, including a $17,500 "high-end training" item that was DARTS helping pay for a manager's Master of Business Administration.
Mindorff said that the city has a similar program. But Clark disputed that after the meeting.
"That's a ridiculous expenditure," he said.
Clark also identified overruns in legal costs, information technology costs and line items he said had little to do with ridership numbers.
"There were discretionary expenditures that were not warranted," he said. "And it's being sold to us as a deficit because we haven't provided enough money for trips."
In a report Tuesday, city auditor Ann Pekarak cited $50,000 in expenses that didn't directly contribute to trips or "demonstrate effective cost consciousness."
Coun. Sam Merulla of Ward 4 also spoke against the "convoluted" DARTS model, and the year-over-year deficit.
"In the real world, you get fired if you don't perform that way," he said. "You can't come back to your boss and say 'I need more money.'"
"How haven't we fired them already?"
Fay Booker, a consultant DARTS hired to assess the service's efficiency, agreed with Mindorff's assessment that the more trips the city orders, the greater the DARTS deficit.
"The city is driving the cost," she said. "It's not DARTS that's driving the cost."
Councillors will examine the DARTS model next year. It will also look at moving toward an on-demand model for passengers.
Currently, DARTS users call days in advance to book a ride. With the "demand responsive" model, users can call and have a vehicle come to them, similar to a taxi.
Under provincial standards for users with disabilities, Hamilton paratransit users should have the same service as able-bodied riders of HSR, said transit head Don Hull.
"All those issues arising here, none of them are intended to be criticisms of how DARTS provides the service," he said. "They're indicators of our need to change."
At Hull's advice, councillors also put a moratorium on purchasing new vehicles for DARTS, provided the moratorium doesn't mean people don't get rides.
City staff will also report back on how to reduce complaints.
DARTS reviews aren't unusual, Mindorff said. "They do it every year."
City councillors started this year last June after concerns that the service had fewer riders but more complaints.
In 2010, riders lodged 308 complaints about the service. In 2013, there were 1,538 complaints.
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