Bega Valley Community Transport will face significant pressures to remain viable, but is in negotiations to secure the service’s future in the region.
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At a special meeting last week, members voted unanimously to continue pursuing an option to cease operating as a standalone association, but instead offer continuing services as a division of Coast and Country Community Service, which has its head office in Nowra.
The reason for the move is due to expected pressures on the organisation both financial and of personnel changes.
A letter to members outlined four resolutions to be determined at the meeting on May 16, causing initial distress to some who raised their concerns with Fairfax Media.
The first resolution called for BVCTS to “cease operations and take action to terminate registrations as an incorporated association and registered charity”.
However, while that sounded ominous for the service many in the community deem vital, it was a precursor to the remaining resolutions to transfer governance, assets and records to Coast and Country, while continuing to operate in the Bega Valley as a division of that larger organisation.
BVCTS president Allan Crowe said he acknowledged the resolutions may not have been phrased perfectly to anyone looking from the outside, but the overall intention was clear to members, who all voted “with no word of dissent”.
Mr Crowe said the intention of a merger with Coast and Country is to reduce “significant operation overheads” and take advantage of any benefits through having financials looked after by one organisation “while retaining our office team and our volunteer drivers essential to our service”.
“There is no proposal for CCCSL to take any funding out of the Bega Valley, and we have been offered the opportunity to have a director on the board of CCCSL,” Mr Crowe said.
“Five years ago we had a look at merging with Coast and Country but decided not to as they were just Shoalhaven and Ulladulla focused. Now they stretch a lot further and have shown over the past five years their ability to operate services remotely and assist with governance locally.”
“The priority was, is and continues to be to assist the frail, aged and people living with disability to access the transport they need,” Mr Crowe said.
“For most of these people, we’re often their only resource.
“We’ve had challenges getting a committee together and people interpreted that as meaning we were closing the doors – not true.
“We have a strong committee and a very experienced manager who have been concerned enough to look forward and see that the organisation will struggle unless we do something now and get a strategy in place.
“Money is the core issue – a new committee and retiring manager are just opportunities we can utilise.”
Now the BVCTS members are unanimously behind pursuing the option, Mr Crowe said negotiations will continue with Coast and Country, conducting “due diligence...which will take some time”.
Very recently BVCTS was advised of another option, with Bega Valley Meals on Wheels indicating an intention to bring BVCT under its umbrella “to keep control of BVCT and funding within Bega Valley Shire”.
BVCTS has provided Meals on Wheels with material to assist in the preparation of a submission. That submission will need to address how Meals on Wheels would be able to provide a service to clients in the Bega Valley superior to that offered by CCCSL.
“We now have three options – a large community transport service with experience in successfully operating several remote services, Bega Meals on Wheels, and, if those options prove unworkable, recruit a manager and form a committee to continue as a stand-alone organisation,” Mr Crowe said.
The final say on any of these options rests with Transport NSW.
“Until any decision is made it is business as usual as far as clients are concerned.”
Mr Crowe said even should the two options fall through for any reason, BVCTS, knowing the challenges, would commit to continuing service as it is, while looking for a manager and committee. However, he said that was still not sustainable long-term.
Community Transport facing challenges
Bega Valley Community Transport has provided services in the Valley for more than 25 years, and while Mr Crowe said third-party assessments have all been glowing, the organisation was facing “significant challenges and pressure”, particularly over the next two years.
Mr Crowe said the need for last week’s special meeting came about due to a number of factors.
Firstly, with the introduction of NDIS and My Aged Care individual packages, most block government funding will cease by 2020.
Mr Crowe said by 2020, the effect of this funding reduction is in the order of $340,000 a year. Generating that from the local community instead was “highly unlikely”.
“The transport component of people’s care is particularly concerning,” he said.
“Instead of charging perhaps $35 for a subsidised fare, we would have to charge the full fare for cost recovery – that could be a couple of hundred dollars. And in our experience, NDIS packages do not have that for clients in regions like the Bega Valley.”
Another issue facing BVCTS is that manager Robyn Adams has indicated a desire to retire later this year, and with the prospect of reduced funding, finding a replacement could prove a challenge.
Also, when the meeting was called none of the current committee members were prepared to nominate again for a role in the executive. As a committee is a legal requirement of governing BVCTS, if that governance is not transferred to another organisation, such as Coast and Country, or if a replacement committee cannot be filled, Community Transport would have to cease operations at its next AGM.
Mr Crowe said since the meeting several volunteers have indicated a willingness to do “just one more year” or to step forward “if no-one else nominates”.
However, this just defers the situation, not solves it.