The Salem Area Mass Transit District’s board meets Thursday, July 27, to hear a year-end financial report and an update on the outcome of the state legislative session.
The meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. and will be in person at the Senator Hearing Room at Courthouse Square, 555 Court St. N.E. The public is invited to comment in person during the meeting, over Zoom, or written submitted via email or mail. Comments are limited to three minutes, and can be about anything relating to the board.
Written public comments are accepted until 5 p.m. Thursday to [email protected], or by mail to Attn: Cherriots Board, 555 Court St. N.E., Suite 5230, Salem, OR 97301.
The meeting will be live streamed by Capital Community Media.
READ IT: AGENDA
2023 year-end financial report
The Cherriots board will also hear the preliminary financial report for the 2023 fiscal year, which ended on June 30. Staff will prepare a fuller report after independent audit work has been completed, said Cherriots General Manager Allan Pollock in a staff report.
According to the report, total operating expenses from the general fund were under budget, at 93%.
Cherriots resources, and revenue totaled $49.7 million, including fare, taxes and federal and state funding. Its operating expenses totaled $40.6 million, according to the report.
Update on state legislative session
The Cherriots board will hear a summary of the results of the 2023 state legislative session from CFM Advocates, a lobbyist group hired by Cherriots. The report categorizes relevant bills by funded, protected, passed or dead.
A statewide program for transporting rural veterans was funded through 2025 for $650,000, and allocates continued funding using state lottery revenue. The program supports projects in rural areas that focus on connecting veterans with medical appointments, mental health and addiction treatment and other services.
A streetcar feasibility study that hopes to connect west Salem with downtown through rail also received funding. Though the original bill died in committee, legislators worked funding into another senate bill which passed, according to the summary.
Cherriots and Rep. Tom Andersen, a Salem Democrat who sponsored the bill, want to finish the study before the 2025 legislative session begins.
A bill that makes peer support counseling for transit workers confidential and undisclosable by participants passed, and awaits a signature from Gov. Tina Kotek. The bill was a high priority for Cherriots, according to the summary.
Cherriots staff have dealt with more vandalism, drug use, presence of weapons and interactions with people in mental health crises in the past few years, according to the summary. The organization hopes the bill will encourage more staff to use mental health resources.
A Cherriots-led bill that would have made it a 3rd degree assault of Class C felony to attack a transit worker on the job did not move this session. Advocates plan to bring it back in 2024, according to the summary.
A bill that would have changed the composition of a panel deciding binding arbitration cases involving public employees died in committee after Cherriots, TriMet and other transit districts argued against it.
A bill sponsored by Rep. Paul Evans, a Monmouth Democrat, that would have allowed cities and counties to add a charge on parking tickets as a transportation incentive died in committee. Pollock testified in the Joint Committee on Transportation in support of the concept but wanted more information on where the funding would go.
Contact reporter Abbey McDonald: [email protected] or 503-704-0355.
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Abbey McDonald joined the Salem Reporter in 2022. She previously worked as the business reporter at The Astorian, where she covered labor issues, health care and social services. A University of Oregon grad, she has also reported for the Malheur Enterprise, The News-Review and Willamette Week.
