Tamagna, LoBue, at Odds over New Bus Contract
Putnam County Legislator Dini LoBue and county Transportation Manager Vincent Tamagna verbally jousted over the financial merits of Putnam’s current bus contract at the June 25 meeting of the Legislature’s Audit and Administration Committee.
After five years of having First Transit provide bus services for Putnam, the county put out a contract to bid for other potential companies rather than extend its contract for an additional two years in an effort to seek costs savings. A new five-year contract was entered into between the county and MV Contract Transportation last year.
Tamagna, a former legislator, told the committee last week that the first year of the new contract, which was from April 1, 2014 through March 31, 2015, saved the county $235,000.
“This was the right thing to do,” committee chair Joe Castellano said in describing the new contract.
But LoBue said the savings from the first year of the new bus contract was much lower than proponents of it said would be attained. LoBue said the legislature was told the county would save about $5 million over the life of the new five-year contract.
Tamagna told LoBue, “We would be paying $1 million more a year” if the First Transit contract had been extended.
LoBue was unconvinced by the comments from Tamagna, saying the savings are much lower than what the legislators were told prior to approving the MV Contract Transportation.
Aside from saving money, the new bus contractor has significantly increased ridership among military veterans, Tamagna said. Under the First Transit contract, an average of eight veterans rode buses a month, but the average number of veterans riding MV buses has been between 80 to 90 veterans a month, he said.The current contract has transferred the cost of bus maintenance such as oil changes, parts and other costs to MV, which were the responsibility of the county under the previous contract, Tamagna said.
