Train’s future in city remains uncertain

The future of Lebanon’s passenger train remains uncertain as city council members continue to debate whether or not the train is worth the nearly $200,000 investment the city provides for it each year.

City council has been spending between $175,000 and $200,000 annually for maintenance and upkeep on the five miles of track it owns in downtown Lebanon. The track is used exclusively by the LM&M railroad, who conducts tourist rides 10 months of the year. The city has been operating under a contract with LM&M that expires this year and if the city were not to renew it, the train would likely leave Lebanon. Downtown business owners have been lobbying city council to keep the train, saying that it brings customers to the city.

“I want to keep the railroad here,” said councilwoman Charleen Mehaffie Flick. “It’s a draw. We’ve had a roomful of merchants who came here and asked for us to keep it. I can’t imagine Lebanon without this amenity. We help provide money for festivals and those last one day a year. This is 10 months of the year.”

“One of my thoughts is if we weren’t to continue it, what could we do with the residual cost to spur economic development,” said councilman Jeff Monroe. “I really have to question if this is the best bang for the buck for the people of Lebanon. Would it be more beneficial to do something else with those tax dollars? We were told certain things would happen and they haven’t happened.”

At the time of the last contract negotiation in 2008-2009, LM&M railroad said they were averaging 40,000 riders a year. However, in records the city has kept due to a .50 per-rider fee the company pays the city to offset the cost of maintaining the rail line, the company claimed only 25,000 riders in 2010 and 19,000 in 2011. Train leaders said they actually had more riders but many of those tickets were given away for special events or bartered for other services. The tax is also not applied during the Thomas the Train weekends, one of the railroad’s busiest periods.

In emailed negotiations with the city manager, the railroad operators asked to reduce an annual usage fee it paid to the city from $5,250 to $3,000. The owners also have to pick up the tab for twice-weekly rail inspections made by Rail America that they had previously received for free, according to city manager Pat Clements. The cost of those inspections is not entirely clear. The rail line cannot support sustained heavy freight traffic, Clements said.

The train’s biggest advocate is councilman Matt Rodriguez, who said the train, along with the Golden Lamb, is one of downtown’s key attractions.

“You have to look at it as the core of the downtown. It affects businesses and their operations,” Rodriguez said. “It affects the community. That’s the reason we brought it back after a couple of years of it being in hiatus. Businesses are grossly affected by the absence of the train. Are we going to trade that for the 8/10 of a mile of asphalt we could repave if we didn’t use the money. What would that really do for the city?”

“We all think the train is important and vital, that’s never been the debate,” said Mayor Amy Brewer, who was the sole opposed vote to the 2009 train contract. “My concern is should government subsidize one business to such a huge extent? The amount we pay to assist with the festivals is minimal compared to this.”

The city paid $3,000 in support of each of its four major festivals in 2012 along with in-kind services, such as site cleanups and added security in the area.

Council has said previously that they wanted to resolve the situation by the end of the year. The last scheduled city council meeting of the year is Dec. 19.

“I’m calling out our business leaders who think they could make the train more conducive to economic development,” Rodriguez said. “I’m urging anyone to contact me that has any ideas to try and save the train or make it more economically and developmentally friendly.”

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