By Kathryn Reed

STATELINE — The Tahoe Transportation District needs to find about $50,000 in the next month or it won’t be able to approve a balanced budget.

The board was given the sobering news at its meeting this month.

Another component that could affect the district is the May revise to the California budget which calls for reductions in transportation dollars.

The budget has been broken into capital improvement projects, transit and general fund. Because TTD has not been the parent of the BlueGo bus system for an entire fiscal year, the operating numbers are difficult to compare year-over-year.

But revenues are definitely on the decline. South Tahoe Public Utility District puts a portion of connection/hook-up fees toward TTD. With construction near a standstill, those dollars are waning.

Since the bankruptcy of South Tahoe Area Transit Authority, not all the partners associated with that group have signed on to be part of the BlueGo run by TTD.

An item that struck board members odd is the $30,000 allocation for the telephone system. Accountant Joanie Schmitt said she has been working with AT&T, but the issue is tied up in bankruptcy. Board members said they’d work their connections to resolve that issue.

If that comes to fruition, the current deficit of $48,782 would be substantially decreased.

With fuel costs on the rise, the budget calls for $785,000 on that line.

The board is expected to vote on the budget at the June meeting.

In other action:

• It was disclosed that the Stateline-to-Stateline bike demo project may still start this summer, but because the U.S. Forest Service has not signed off on all the paperwork the delay will mean it won’t be completed in one building season.

• The board accepted the donation of two prefabricated bus shelters from Bently Nevada.

• Andrew Strain was nominated to be chair of the board for another year and Will Garner vice chair. A vote will be taken at the June meeting.

• Angela Swanson has replaced Bruce Grego as South Lake Tahoe’s rep to the district. She was nominated to oversee a committee devoted solely to BlueGo.

• The deadline to submit a request for proposal to operate BlueGo was extended to May 25.