By Ally DunhamIn order to help facilitate the Handi-Transit service, the city of Dryden is to receive the annual gas tax funding.  The Province of Ontario, through the Dedicated Gas Tax Funds for Public Transportation Program, the city of Dryden will be receiving funding in the amount of $47,282.$35,462 will be paid out immediately upon receipt of a signed letter of agreement between Mayor Anne Krassilowsky, Mayor of the city of Dryden, Linda McNaughton; Director of Corporate Services/Treasurer and the Province of Ontario.  The remaining payments will be payable thereafter on a quarterly basis.Funds will be used to assist in the operations of the Handi-Transit system in the community, and in previous years have funded a new bus.  With a first year payment of only $9,634 for the 2004/2005 period, the following years have fluctuated.  The 2005/06 years saw funding in the amount of $56,220, 2006/07 funding was $74,017 but due to prior year spending cap, the city received $59,706.2007/08 saw a tidy sum of $71,762 while 2008/09 saw a decrease to $54,640.Funding is based on a 2 cents per litre of the provincial gas tax funds as of 2006.  Prior to 2006, funding started at 1 cent per litre and increased to 1.5 cents per litre in 2005.The grant must not exceed 75 per cent of the “municipal own account spending on public transit” and must give priority to increased capital expenditure and then increased operating expenditures that support increased ridership.The city is required to sign the Letter of Agreement each year and develop an “Asset Management Plan”as well as a “Ridership Growth Plan” which was prepared and submitted in 2006. The city has plans to start researching the possibilities of increasing the transit service, as well as expanding its service boundaries.  The boundaries are currently confined to city limits, but council would like to see this expanded to outside the city.With an expanded boundary, this could increase ridership, which should result in increased funding from the province of Ontario.  Council has decided to create a task force to look into the possibilities of increasing its area of service.A portion of the funding has been used each year for the increased service provided for enabling clients to go shopping at various local businesses, Christmas light tours, cemetery candle lighting tours at Christmas, and special events such as the Centennial Air Show.The service is specialized for the senior community, enabling them to access shopping, banking, doctor visits and a variety of other events to asisst in their day to day living.The allocation of funding for this year will cover 93 public transit systems representing 119 municipalities amounting to approximately $316 million.

- Ally Dunham