Taking a Look at How HART is Funded

HART keeps Hillsborough County on the move!

Liza used to say "Money makes the world go around". So, while HART keeps Hillsborough County residents on the move, ultimately, the almighty dollar makes the wheels on the bus go around.

With that said, let's take a look at how HART is funded.

Let's get something out of the way upfront, as it's almost always brought up in regards to transit funding. Public transportation is NOT a money maker, and does not pay for itself. Even our transportation friends in the private sector are finding profitability challenging.

Paying your $2.00 HART fare in 2017 only covers roughly 22.5% of the cost of operating that trip! For those commuting on the other side of the Bay, that drops to only 18% or so. This is not just relative to the Tampa Bay area. DART, in Dallas, recovers roughly 15%, while MTA, the New York Subway system, recovers roughly 38%.

So, if fares only cover 22.5% of the true cost of operations, where does the rest of the funding come from? Here is a breakdown of the HART budget:

• Fares and Passes Revenue: 22.5%
• Advertising Income: 1.7%
• Other Income (MegaBus, RedCoach, Commuter Ads): 0.5%
• Ad Valorem Tax Revenue: 51.7%
• Federal Grants: 14.7%
• State Grants: 7.7%
• Local Funds: 1.3%

As you can see, HART is funded from a variety of sources from advertising, to state and federal funding. The largest portion of this is actually via Hillsborough County Ad Valorem/property tax revenue. HART is currently capped at a millage rate of .5000. A millage rate is the amount per $1,000 used to calculate property taxes owed.

To make this example easy, let's say your home is valued at $100,000. Your portion to HART would be $100,000 / $1,000 (millage rate is per $1,000) x .5000 (millage rate for HART) = $50. So, HART receives $50 from your property taxes.

In Pinellas, PSTA currently operates on a millage rate of .7500, with 59% of their budget coming from property taxes.

There has recently been talk about possibly raising the millage rate cap for HART from the current .5000. Let's take a look at what that would mean for Hillsborough home owners.

First, due to the organization's charter, the HART Board would have to approve the notion of raising the millage, and then the County Commission and city councils of Tampa and Temple Terrace would also have to approve it. Voters would ultimately have the final word, in the form of a county referendum.

So, going back to the original example, a homeowner with a house valuation of $100,000 with a millage rate equal to PSTA at .7500 (as an example) would see a rise of their property tax of roughly $25 annually.

What would this mean for HART?

HART received $38,872,885 in property tax in FY17, from $77,745,771 overall in taxable value of Hillsborough County properties. Based off of those numbers, HART would receive $58,309,328 for the year - an increase of roughly $20 million.

HART FY2027 Transit Needs Plan

What could HART do with that funding?

Additional funding would accelerate the implementation of the HART 10-year "Needs Plan," with the possibility of additional service not currently included in that plan.

This means more buses and vans, more frequently, covering more territory, to get people to work, play, etc.

The HART Board discussed raising the millage rate at their meeting on 7/17. Director Kemp requested information on how other peer cities fund transit. HART staff will review data and come back at a later date to brief the Board.

Stay tuned to our social channels for updates!

What Goes into Your Route: From Plan to Pavement

Most HART patrons have "their" routes. Maybe, it's the "2" down Nebraska Avenue, or route 5 near Busch Gardens. Regardless of which route it is, people rely on "their" HART routes every day to get them to where they want to go. You probably have your routes in mind, but have you ever thought about what goes into actually selecting and serving that route? What it takes financially and operationally to put service on the ground?

Read on to find out how your route goes from plan to pavement.

Demand always sparks the initial thought of where service should be placed. The HART mission is providing outstanding customer service while building solutions to support Hillsborough County's needs. Moving people is our job, and finding the best, most efficient way to move the greatest amount of people is our goal.

The number one thing which can affect a route is the budget. The HART budget relies heavily on ad valorem (property taxes) from the residents of Hillsborough County - similar to police and fire departments. HART also relies on federal funds to offset the costs of certain routes and services like preventative maintenance on our fleet of buses, vans, trolleys and streetcars.

Finance and Service Development work hand-in-hand to ensure that HART invests in the best bus service possible. Our planners are truly amazing at finding cost saving efficiencies, while still maintaining the transit footprint throughout Hillsborough County. For example, HART is able to maintain the same level of service in a number of areas in Hillsborough County by utilizing HART Flex, our smaller, on-demand, van service, instead of traditional 40" buses.

Once we determine where we are financially, HART considers the following:

• Ridership trends
• Impact on riders and area
• Schedule: Complementing the overall bus schedule
• Alternative options:

HART planners take into account housing complexes, businesses, schools, malls, etc. that have recently opened to make sure bus service matches current developments. Again, the goal is to provide transit service that serves current ridership trends.

If realignments of routes are necessary, we try to do so with little effect on patrons. Our planners are like surgeons using scalpels instead of tree trimmers with chainsaws. It takes roughly 4-5 buses to serve a 60 minute route with 30 minute frequencies. If we brought the route to 60 minute frequencies, two less buses are needed and HART would save about $500,000 without having to pull an entire route.

Planners also ensure that route modifications complement the overall bus schedule, and they also try to provide options for people. Some areas have multiple routes serving them and might be slightly inconvenienced due to the loss of a certain route. However, that modification might allow us to continue serving another part of Hillsborough County which has only a sole connection to downtown, USF, etc.

Public comment is a big part of any route modification process.

Public comments via online survey, community meetings, public hearing and hard copy comment forms, may help us modify or find an alternative to current routing.

So how do we get to that point in the process?

A lot of time, proposals come in based on operator/patron suggestions. HART planners do an internal review of the proposals, add in their own proposals and then take the proposed changes to the HART Board. We then begin gathering feedback through an extensive outreach campaign, that culminates in a Public Hearing. The HART Board reviews the outreach data and either approves or denies the changes.

That's the easy part...

Click here for part two of our look at how your route goes from plan to pavement. What is "rostering," and what role does it play in the final three months before service changes go into effect?