Butler transit officials are preparing to “weather the storm” as a major funding source freezes amid a legal challenge.

According to several news outlets, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is being sued by two major trucking groups. That lawsuit is freezing funds that the Turnpike Commission is obligated to annually pay to the state.

“Disruption of this funding plan holds serious consequences for transit agencies across the state and the Amtrak service Pennsylvania subsidizes,” Erin Waters-Trasatt, the communications director of the state's Department of Transportation, wrote in an email.

In 2007, the state's legislature passed Act 44, requiring the turnpike to provide $450 million annually to PennDOT. The funds were divided between the state's highway and bridge network and public transit, according to Waters-Trasatt.

But with the loss of funds, mass transit entities — including Butler Transit Authority — will have to operate with budgets that won't increase.

“Act 44 provides funding for transit operations, and a reduction in operating funding would likely result in service reductions,” Waters-Trasatt said.

Until the turnpike's legal battle, Butler Transit Authority received a cut of the Turnpike Commission's funding and it will now have to fall back on reserves, according to John Paul, the county transit authority director. The authority operates one trolley and six buses for local service and five buses for trips to and from Pittsburgh.

“We're OK this year, but obviously there's going to need to be some remedies,” Paul said. “So, if you have no reserves, cause costs go up and we're pretty close to budget ... fortunately for us, we have enough reserves to weather this storm for a while. Our whole fleet is less than three years old, so we'll not need any capital funding for operations for another, you know, 70 years.”

But Paul said there also won't be any expansions of service until the turnpike's funding resumes. Paul said that the authority is in the “final phase” of designing a park and ride-commuting hub, a capital project that will be postponed pending funds. Paul said the authority has yet to decide where to place the hub.

Waters-Trasatt said that the state government continues to try to minimize the impact the frozen funds will have on transportation.

“Through use of reserve funds and reprioritization of transit capital programs, we have been able to minimize impacts this fiscal year. Without the turnpike payments, the distribution for transit capital projects in the new fiscal year will be dramatically lower,” she wrote in the email and explained that along with limited funding for capital projects, the budget “will remain stagnant for fixed-route agencies, while their costs increase by 4 percent a year on average. We also will not begin any studies or reviews for additional or expanded service.”

Paul confirmed that state operating funds had been frozen.

“Generally, those funds go up,” he said.

Waters-Trasatt noted the importance of mass transit in Pennsylvania, saying that 49 counties have fixed route service, while all 67 counties have shared-ride service delivered by 44 providers.

“The state supported nearly 400 million transit trips in the 2017-2018 state fiscal year,” she said. “Public transportation gets people to work, to medical appointments, (allows them to) remain in their homes longer and connect to their community while reducing congestion.”

While Butler's number of public transit riders is lower than in other counties, there's still a commuter need. According to information from a survey conducted by the state's transportation department, about 63.2 percent of public transit riders in the county do not have any alternative method of transportation.

State Sen. Elder Vogel, R-47th, worries about long-term problems if the funding freeze continues. “There's no fallback, no extra $450 million lying around in drawers,” Vogel said. “So there will be cutbacks. It's a huge issue for people who use buses. We're going to hurt the people (who) need to be hurt the least.”

Vogel said that if the legal battle keeping the funds frozen continues, he and other senators will consider a “supplemental appropriation” to fund mass transit throughout the state.