Gas prices continue to fall, but they're not benefitting everyone. Some gas prices in the area have fallen below $1.30 recent days, which is good news for drivers, but not for public transit. The executive director of Allen County Regional Transit Authority, Shelia Schmitt, says they opened bids in November for 2016 prices. Schmitt says she was excited, because she thought $1.51 was a good deal. Last year RTA purchased their gas at $2.35 per gallon, a big difference from this year. Even though the deal was better, this year's continuous drop in prices is hurting their business.
She says the prices affect most of the community; they usually order around 100,000 gallons per year and sell to organizations like the Allen County Sheriff's Office to help their revenue. "Someone told me that I was the only person in the city that got upset every time the gas prices fell below $2.00," said Schmitt, "And that's the reason, because we depend on that as part of our revenue, because we don't have any designated funding here at RTA, so anything else that we do on the side that's what keeps us going." Schmitt says they may look into a levy to help offset the gas prices in the future.
