Sen. Brady expects mass transit to be funded by end of 2016

Posted on November 7, 2016

By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – State Sen. Bill Brady said he’s optimistic Connect Transit won’t have to stop service – as the agency has threatened – because of a lack of state funding.

The Bloomington Republican told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin, he expects the state will deliver the money by the end of the year.

PODCAST: Listen to Scott’s interview with Brady on WJBC.

“Connect Transit, like every transit authority in the state of Illinois, is counting on that money being delivered,” Brady said. “The problem is we have nearly $10 billion in unpaid bills. So the comptroller has a very difficult decision of who gets paid when.”

The state owes Connect Transit about $5 million, that’s about half of what it pays the agency each year.

“Many of us (lawmakers), if not all of us, are going to go to bat for our local transit authorities,” Brady said. “These are very much a priority because if this system shuts down, the whole infrastructure for many of the people who are trying to get back on their feet shuts down.”

Connect Transit plans to stop service in January if the state doesn’t deliver the funding it owes.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].

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