![]() A report on the findings will be presented to the County Board on or about the end of the 2nd quarter.” “ An analysis of the GO Pass program will be conducted in 2016 with participation from the Department of Administrative Services, the Department of Transportation, and the Comptroller’s Office, in cooperation with the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC) to better understand the revenue trends and impact of the GO Pass. The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors stripped that funding as part of a series of funding moves on mass transit, but retained the language calling for a report: County Executive Chris Abele originally included $100,000 for an outside study on the matter in his budget proposal. The 2016 budget also includes the requirement to study the program, but no funding for the matter is included in the $163 million MCTS operating budget. That figure is likely to be low, as the program cost $2.6 million in 2015, started in March and didn’t reach current usage levels until the third quarter. ![]() The 2016 budget, which was approved prior to the comptroller’s memo, includes $3.2 million for the program. ![]() Those warnings proved prescient when in November 2015, Milwaukee County Comptroller Scott Manske issued a report that showed the program was going to cost an additional $1.8 million through the end of 2015 for a total cost of $2.6 million. Ignoring warnings from MCTS director Dan Boehm and the Milwaukee County Commission on Aging, the GO Pass program was hastily budgeted for a cost of $822,600 in 2015. Thankfully for taxpayers, a study of the program is coming this year. At the end of 2015, the program had cost nearly three times its budgeted amount. Originally introduced as a last-minute budget amendment, the Growing Opportunities (GO) Pass started in April 2015 and kept growing steadily from there. Milwaukee County’s free transit program for seniors and those with disabilities continues to provide thousands of free rides every week.
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