Walworth County transportation committee weighs 2027 budget as ridership rises and fare policy is eyed

The Walworth County transportation committee elected Al Stanek chair and Andrew Kerwin vice chair and focused Wednesday on planning for the 2027 transportation budget amid rising ridership and software transition issues.

Committee members spent the bulk of the meeting reviewing charts and projections showing ridership from 2022 through May 2026, including a statistically consistent trend line and an unexplained dip in mid‑2025 followed by a record high month in October 2025. Presenter Mark (speaker 5) said the committee must weigh whether to budget to a long‑term trend or to a higher short‑term trend to preserve access to state matching funds.

Mark said the yellow trend line derived from January 2022 through May 2026 data has an R² of about 0.7 and is the most statistically consistent indicator available. He also warned the committee that a fifth year of the current five‑year service contract is the final optional year; to increase service hours in that year the county may need either a state‑approved change order or to include higher hours in a new RFP.

"So to achieve essentially this service level, you're going to need…" Mark said while pointing to projected service‑hour lines on the committee packet, arguing the county should consider modest reserve funding to avoid losing state participation if demand rises.

Members pressed staff on what reserves would be used and on the state review process. Raul Laporta (speaker 6) clarified that any additional funding drawn from county reserves would be a general fund decision and would require the County Board's approval. Staff cautioned the state typically asks whether increases are sustainable both in ridership and local funding before approving a change order.

The committee examined operational metrics used to measure efficiency, including the trip ratio (trips billed per hour) and shared‑ride percentage. Staff reported shared rides were about 24.9% in May and 25.7% for January–May and flagged that a new routing software, RouteGenie, temporarily produced erroneous "no‑show" records in May (223 recorded no‑shows) during the transition; staff said no riders were penalized and the vendor is correcting records.

Operations staff reported 56 drivers on the roster, short of a 60‑driver target, and noted rising maintenance and fuel costs — April fuel spending alone was about $8,000 higher than prior months. Vehicle ownership totals were given: 30 vehicles owned by the service provider and 24 by the county.

Discussion turned to fares after staff compared Walworth County's farebox recovery (6.1% of expenses in the packet) with peer counties such as Ozaukee, Washington, Door and Waupaca. Committee members warned that raising fares risks reducing ridership because of price elasticity: "In this business, you raise fares only as a last resort," one member said, urging caution and more analysis before recommending a fare increase.

The committee signaled a preference for budgeting conservatively to preserve eligibility for state dollars while exploring short‑term uses of fund balance or reserves as a buffer. Staff said a fuller ridership dataset from RouteGenie will be available for the October meeting and that the fifth‑year contract decision will require analysis ahead of any RFP or change‑order request.

The meeting packet also included outreach items: staff announced the Walworth County Aging and Abilities Resource Fair will move to late September at the fairgrounds and noted continued evaluation of a rural autonomous vehicle pilot route between Lake Geneva and Delavan. The committee set its next meeting for Monday, August 31 and adjourned by voice vote.

Votes and formal actions taken included approval of the agenda and May 4 minutes, unanimous election of Al Stanek as chair and Andrew Kerwin as vice chair, and a motion to adjourn. No public commenters spoke during the public comment period.

What happens next: staff will return with additional RouteGenie ridership data for the October meeting, and the committee expects budget proposals and any recommendation on reserves or fares ahead of the County Board's 2027 budget cycle.