Intercity Transit is in the process of renting a warehouse to support the renovation of its headquarters on Pattison Street in Olympia.
IT’s board of directors authorized General Manager Emily Bergkamp to sign a $275,000 lease agreement for a warehouse space last Tuesday, June 19.
Facilities Maintenance Director Jonathon Yee said the warehouse will allow staff to store their equipment as the agency temporarily moves its fleet to a smaller space during the renovation project.
The contract amount includes a $36,000 contingency fund, while the rest will be used for rental fees and an associated electrical upgrade.
The Washington State Department of Enterprise Services helped IT identify their leasing options in the local area, according to Yee. IT staff are considering at least two options which they will still have to evaluate.
Yee mentioned that the lease would only run for about two and a half years. The renovation of the Pattison Street headquarters is slated for completion in late 2026, according to documents prepared for the board meeting.
The warehouse lease was among the newly identified costs as part of IT’s mid-year budget review.
As part of the budget review, additional expenditures to be included in this year’s budget totaled $576,908.
This amount includes $60,000, which will be allocated for the first year of the warehouse's rental costs.
Chief Financial Officer Jana Brown said that other major sources for additional costs include $275,000 for a certain land acquisition, $130,158 to administer a grant for IT’s Walk N Roll program, and $70,000 to implement a service planning software which will help the agency develop it service models.
At the same time, the budget review accounts for new funding sources which totaled $2,916,558. Major funding sources include $2 million from an increase in the agency’s interest income and $246,558 for the Walk N Roll grant.
IT also accounted for a $550,000 decrease in salaries and benefits. Brown said that when they develop the budget for vacant positions, they budget at a higher level to account for the salary expectations of their applicants. Brown added that that they filled higher positions internally through promotions which allowed them to save some costs.
The budget also includes a $110,000 decrease in costs for third-party website enhancement services. Brown explained that IT is moving away from a contractor to an in-house web developer.
As part of the budget review, the board authorized a budget for four new positions. Intercity Transit plans to hire an accounting specialist, a web developer, and a program representative and assistant for the Walk N Roll program.
Brown explained that they conduct mid-year budget reviews to account for changes in costs and funding sources as the budget is developed during late summer to early fall of the year before the budgeted year.
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olyhiker
I'm a little bit confused. IT just built a fancy new headquarters with granite countertops even. What are they remodeling?
Tuesday, June 25 Report this
wolfmanner
THEY ARE A JOKE.
Tuesday, June 25 Report this
OlyBlues
One of the local media organizations should really do a deep dive into the finances of Intercity Transit, as well as publish their huge employee salaries and benefits. So much wasteful spending, all new equipment, fancy bus shelters, demands for a roundabout to meet their needs. They flaunt their waste of our tax dollars with only the most expensive buses in the Puget Sound region, build a Taj Mahal headquarters, drive these huge empty buses all over town despite low ridership, and now want to spend more more more. IT has become a very bloated government agency, but it is really thanks to Thurston County voters for passing an additional permanent tax stream years ago so IT could continue their wasteful spending. It's really shocking to see for a public transit agency.
Tuesday, June 25 Report this