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Children’s Trust Of Alachua County Finalizes Summer Plans To Help Families
By Jolie Freedman
March 3, 2021
The Children’s Trust of Alachua County just passed the two-year mark since its creation, and the faith voters placed in its leadership is starting to produce results.
The initial visibility of its most prominent efforts so far will appear in the coming months, when it helps to add more summer programming in the county at a cost of $500,000. Couple that with its pledge to allocate $300,000 for matching fund requests from local non-profit organizations, and county taxpayers will soon see how this slice of local property tax revenue is being spent.
In the meantime, staff can analyze what it would cost if all bus rides were free, City Commissioner Harvey Ward said.
Ward said the estimated annual loss in revenues from giving the young and seniors a free ride only adds up to about $230,000, which isn’t much when compared to the city’s larger budgets.
But he said eliminating bus fares for those age groups “speaks directly to equity.
The no-fares plan could help young people get to the library or to part-time jobs, and could help seniors get to a doctor or other key destinations, Ward said.
Ward said this is not the first time the fare waivers have been discussed and it is time to implement the concept.