Supervisors Discuss Struggles to Offer Free Veteran Bus Rides

SIGOURNEY – During the Aug. 26 meeting of the Keokuk County Board of Supervisors, Supervisor Darly Wood gave an update on the struggles by 10-15 Transit to continue providing free bus rides for veterans due to high costs. He explained that each of the Southeast Iowa counties involved in the bus services contributes $2,500 per month, and that in July, one county had used $5,200 while Keokuk County had only used $624 to pay for bus rides. Supervisor Mike Hadley suggested tracking and charging for mileage. Wood stated that the 10-15 board was working to get the bus ride costs reimbursed by VAs, but that the process of setting that up was hard to deal with. He stated that he does not want to stop offering the bus rides, but that they cannot continue having all the money go to one or two large counties. He noted that most bus rides are fine, but large trips are costly, giving an example of a trip from Wapello County to the Iowa City VA as an example of a costly trip.