School Board Unlikely to Fund Trolley; Urges Council to Reconsider

The Englewood Board of Education is unlikely to foot the cost of maintaining the city's free trolley service and will approach council about reconsidering its decision not to fund the service in this year's budget, board president Howard Haughton said.

If neither body picks up the approximately $95,000 price tag of operating the service for the remainder of the year, it will be discontinued at the end of June.

"I think it would be wonderful if the city would reconsider their position on this because quite frankly our students are not the only folks that use the service," Haughton said at Thursday's board meeting. "The fact of the matter is that there are a number of other residents that use it and we have a very challenging budget that we have to manage."

The council has justified its decision not to fund the trolley, which had previously been subsidized in large part by the developers of three South Englewood apartment complexes, by asserting that the vast majority of its riders are students.

"Ninety to 95 percent of the people who use it are the school children," said 4th Ward Councilman Wayne Hamer, citing an unscientific ridership study conducted by Englewood Economic Development Corporation chairman Adam Brown. "It’s really a school expense."

While Haughton said it's highly unlikely the trolley will wind up on a future board meeting agenda, he plans to reach out to council members in hopes that the district and the council can work out an arrangement to continue the service.

"This is another way in which children get to school, and a safe way that they get to school, so we’re clearly affected," he said. "I think the discussion again is going to be with the council first to see if there’s anything that can be done to reconsider their decision, and if the board is able to influence that and help them to rethink that, that’s going to be great.

"We’re a community," he continued. "We really need to continue to work as a community."

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