Leftover funds allocated for COVID relief will allow the purchase of new vans and a bus for the city’s transit department.
The Columbus City Council voted 9-0 to approve the first reading of an ordinance that appropriates $1.6 million of funding provided by the CARES Act towards the transit budget.
Ordinances must be passed on two readings to be fully approved.
Director of Public Works Bryan Burton said they received more than $2 million of CARES Act funds and had “spent very little of that.”
The 1.6 million, currently held in a Federal Transit Administration (FTA) grant, will be used to purchase five paratransit vans and one 29-foot GILLIG bus, Burton said.
“We have five vans now that we want to retire,” he said
The cost of the vans and bus is estimated at $1.4 million, but Burton requested $1.6 million to allow a buffer because there had yet to be a firm bid on the GILLIG bus.
Anything left over would be moved to the operating budget, Burton said.
There is already a purchase order for the five vans in place, for a total cost of $735,162, according to Burton.
