Frontenac Transportation secures five-year funding commitment from County

Jeff Green | Jan 06, 2016

Frontenac Transportation secures five-year funding commitment from County

It has been a long time coming for Frontenac Transportation Service (FTS) to finally settle into its relationship with Frontenac County Council.

For years the Council was reluctant to commit to more than a one-time grant of $80,000 each year to the service, always under a neutral heading in the county budget - “Grants to Outside Agencies”.

The reason for this was a reluctance, expressed most often by former South Frontenac mayor, Gary Davison, to see the county “trapped into running an expensive transportation service. I'm afraid we will see costs increase every year until we are paying hundreds of thousands,” he said.

At county budget meetings five or six years ago, the debate about the $80,000 grant would be one of the longest discussions in the $40 million budget exercise, but over time that concern has slipped away.

Part of the reason was that the $80,000 request never did jump up as Davison expected. The other part was that the service has continued to grow incrementally, providing rides to medical appointments, daycare services, and shopping for vulnerable sectors of the county’s population, including seniors.

By the time Davison was getting ready to leave municipal politics, he had changed his attitude towards the service. At a budget meeting in 2013, he said, “I would support a long term commitment to FTS, and if it needs more than $80,000, that's fine with me as well.”

The funding has increased, and now stands at $96,000 per year, a portion for administration, and a portion to help fund rides. Other agencies, such as Ontario Works, the Local Health Integration Network and the Ontario Disability Support Program pay for rides for their own clients, and other clients pay fees themselves.

Louise Moody from Northern Frontenac Community Services (NFCS) the lead agency for FTS, and David Townsend from the partner agency Southern Frontenac Community Services (SFCS) made their annual visit to Frontenac County Council in mid-December. They were able to report that FTS has provided 5,852 rides for clients in South, Central, and North Frontenac, and that the volunteer drivers who provide the service traveled over $650,000 kilometres and received over $250,000 in reimbursement for mileage.

The numbers have increased over time and are set to increase again at the end of the fiscal year in March of 2016.

FTS service is delivered out of an office in Sharbot Lake.

“We like to have three days’ notice to help us match drivers to rides, but we are able to find rides within a day when clients need them,” said Louise Moody.

“The biggest concern we have is with volunteer drivers. We have about 60, 30 in South Frontenac and 30 in Central and North Frontenac, but we are always looking for more,” said David Townsend.

“With the average age of our drivers becoming older and older, we are getting caught by the same demographic shift that the entire county and region are seeing,” he added.

“I wholly support this service,” said Councilor John McDougall. “They are covering a need and doing it efficiently.”

His view was echoed by that of Councilor John Inglis from North Frontenac.

South Frontenac Mayor Ron Vandewal asked if $96,000 per year for five years was going to cover FTS costs.

“We see no need for an increase,” said David Townsend.

Councilor Natalie Nossal from Frontenac Islands asked whether the service was planning to expand to Wolfe and Howe Islands.

“We have looked into that and the VON [Victorian Order of Nurses] provide transportation in Kingston. They said that if we can find drivers to bring people to the ferry dock in Kingston from Wolfe Island they can take them from there. The same is true for Howe Island, but we need to know if there is a need and if drivers can be found on the islands,” said Townsend.

“If it can be arranged, we can dispatch the rides for the islands just as we do for the rest of the County,” said Louise Moody.