MOUNT VERNON — Changes will be coming to the Mid-Ohio Transit Authority service in Knox County beginning Tuesday. The local transit authority which provides transportation for area residents will officially be converting over to a county entity, after many years of providing service solely for Knox County.
MOTA was formerly a three-county collaboration with Knox, Coshocton and Holmes counties and was an extension of Kno-Ho-Co Community Action Agency. Coshocton and Holmes counties dropped out of the agreement in 1994, and MOTA has since been operating in Knox County as a regional transit authority. Knox County had since been providing insurance for MOTA’s vehicles.
MOTA had recently gone through an audit by the Ohio Department of Transportation, its chief resource for funding. The audit showed findings of $60,000 in funds unaccounted for as well as allegations of theft, which were deemed inconsistent with ODOT requirements, according to Knox County Assistant Prosecutor Chip McConville. “The financial controls were not as rigorous as they should be,” said McConville. “This will give us the resources to avoid audit findings in the future. The county will have more financial control.”
Currently serving as the administrator for MOTA is Hillary Patterson, who told the News that MOTA currently operates on a budget of $1,420,000. Of this amount, $52,000 is local with $32,000 coming from the county and $20,000 from the city of Mount Vernon. The remainder comes from state and federal grants as well as matching funds.
