Members of the Transportation Action Committee put a decision on how to update the Wareham district bus fleet on hold and instead spent time during their third meeting on February 22 clarifying the Transportation Department's budget.

At issue was how to pay for badly needed school buses to replace the district's aging fleet. There are two options on the table: hiring an outside contractor to purchase new buses and manage the school transportation department or buy new buses with public funds and keep the department "in-house."

"It's a slam-dunk from my perspective as a business person ," said School Committee Chair Geoff Swett, who chairs the action committee. "[It's] hundred of thousands of dollars away from being a close decision."

The School Committee has received bids from private contractors for the costs of updating its fleet of buses. The cheapest bid on the table is $2.4 million, according to Swett, which doesn't include the approximately $180,000 dollars in additional fuel costs that the town would pay since they can purchase fuel cheaper than a private contractor could.

The projected expense for the town to keep the Transportation Department "in-house" would be approximately $450,000 to update the bus fleet in addition to the projected $1.3 million school transportation budget for fiscal year 2013. The total price tag climbs to about $1.8 million dollars, according to Swett.

But other Action Committee members, including Mary Jane Driscoll, a Capital Planning Committee member and former 6-year district Transportation Department manager, wanted clarification about how money in the transportation budget was currently being spent.

At issue, according to Driscoll, was the need for transparency in the budget in order to get the public on board with any conclusion reached by the Action Committee.

"We have to go to town meeting … that's what this is all about," said Driscoll, explaining that any conclusion made by the committee would have to explained to Town Meeting voters who would want an adequate explanation of transportation expenses.

Regardless of which option gets chosen, private or public, the question of how to pay the transportation bill still remains.

One way is to reduce costs.

The Transportation Department could stop providing services, such as transportation to and from school for 7th through 12th graders. Legally, the town is only required to provide transportation from kindergarten to 6th grade. This would reduce the bus fleet by 13 buses as well as decrease the payroll, Swett explained.

Another way is to increase revenue.

Swett mentioned charging parents whose children are transported by bus a fee for the service.

"We run the risk, parents will say, I can't afford $180 a year," Swett said using the amount of $180 as an example, not as a set or determined amount.

Another way to raise money would be an increase in property taxes through a Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion or override.

If voters agree to a Proposition 2 1/2 override, property taxes could be raised above the 2 1/2 percent annual cap on increase. A debt exclusion would also raise property taxes, but only for a predetermined number of years and only to complete a specific project. (A debt exclusion was previously used to fund the construction of Wareham Middle School.)

Swett added that it would most likely be an override, since the purchases of buses would be "capital expenditures that have to be replaced every year."

"How do we pay for it, private or public, and what are we willing to ask parents to do, in terms of services … because our alternative is an override or a debt exclusion or some combination of the two," Swett said.

The Transportation Department aims to have an average age of 5 years for the buses in its fleet, with no bus greater than 10 years old.

This is because, after 10 years, the cost of maintenance starts to skyrocket along with the cost of inspection, according to Swett. Currently, half of the buses in the Wareham fleet are 11 years or older.

Town Administrator Mark Andrews added that he was going to meet with other town administrators in the South Coast in the near future and would be asking them about their experiences with privatizing their transportation department.

The next Transportation Action Committee meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 29 at 5 p.m. in the Selectmen's Meeting Room (room 320) in the Multi-service Center.