City, county haven't reached understanding over bus service to Amazon's fulfillment center

Debate between the city and county about extending bus service to Amazon's under-construction fulfillment facility is the latest political season talking point.

The issue comes down to money and who should pay for it. Leon County Commissioner Kristin Dozier chided the city for being slow to respond to county officials on logistics during last week's Leon County Commission meeting and interviews with the Tallahassee Democrat.

City officials, including Mayor John Dailey, Dozier's opponent in the mayoral run-off election in November, said the city is willing to provide service but should not be expected to front the bill for extending services outside its limits.

In the meantime, Amazon is wasting no time to see its 635,000-square-foot robotics fulfillment center operational by early 2023. The $200-million fulfillment center off Mahan Drive near the I-10 interchange is Tallahassee's largest private sector investment and poised to create roughly 1,000 jobs.

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Dozier said the lack of a clear plan by the city to provide bus transportation to Amazon is "one of my biggest concerns."

“We are months away from the Amazon facility opening," she said. "More than 1,000 jobs. If we don’t have bus service on day one, we make it more difficult for people in any part of the city to reach Amazon and to take advantage of those jobs. And, we have an increase impact on traffic in that area.”

Amazon bus service becomes political talking point

Dozier describes the matter as “very interesting” because it touches both her work as a county commission and comments made on the campaign trail.

She chose not to bring it up during the primary election, where voters saw a ping pong of negative advertisements and jabs between Dailey and Dozier, who once served as colleagues on the County Commission.

Dozier said she didn't bring it up months ago because she assumed the city was going to provide bus service.

“I made a choice to bring this up in the Sept. 13 meeting because this should be a city, county issue and not a campaign issue,” she said.

Yet, the issue surfaced during the campaign trail and public meetings. The Intergovernmental Agency, made up of city and county commissioners, approved a $2.56 million incentives package for Amazon's massive project.

Dozier said, during the May 2021 Blueprint board meeting, there was general support from city and county commissioners for bus service, adding “it was acknowledged this would be a need.”

A month later, Dozier said she proposed a three-part, transportation-related motion that included direction for County Administrator Vince Long to work with City Manager Reese Goad on the county’s desire to have bus service to the facility.

Little communication followed, she said.

However, Dozier said the issue came up during campaign forums, including one environmental forum where Mayor John Dailey indicated the city’s plans to provide the bus service.

A video clip of the forum shows Dailey saying: “We are running Star Metro out to Amazon, and we’re looking forward to it.”

In an interview the Democrat, Dailey said he was questioned on whether the city had analyzed the logistics and had a will to provide service to Amazon.

His remarks, Dailey said, didn't represent an official commitment from the city but rather a willingness to participate.

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"Absolutely, we're willing to do it in partnership with the county," Dailey said. "That is the precedent that's been set. We do not provide mass transit in the unincorporated area unless we have an interlocal agreement with the county."

He pointed to other interlocal agreements with local institutions, such as Florida State University, which pays for services to its campus. In addition, the city has an interlocal agreement in place with Leon County to serve the Lake Jackson Branch Library, Dailey said.

"To just assume the city will provide bus services four miles outside into the unincorporated (area) to Amazon without an interlocal agreement... We are willing, we are ready, and we're prepared. Let's do the interlocal agreement and move forward."

Dailey said ridership fees represents about 5% of Star Metro's budget and the remaining amount is paid through the city's general fund.

"You can't establish a route and expect ridership to pay for it," Dailey said, adding the county stands to receive millions in property taxes from Amazon. "That's why we have these interlocal agreements. And, again, it's not new. This is the norm ... If the county is willing to move forward with the interlocal agreement and pay for the subsidy to do it, we'll run it. We're ready."

Dailey said since Dozier brought the issue up during a County Commission meeting, he suggested she "take the charge and possibly set aside money that could pay for the route, much like what I did when I was a District 3 commissioner for the Lake Jackson Branch Library."

When asked why this became an issue considering the city and county have had interlocal agreement in the past for bus service, Dailey said, "That is a question for Commissioner Dozier."

City manager provides details on bus service

Behind the scenes, it appears there wasn't a clear plan on how bus service would take shape.

Dozier brought up the issue at last week's County Commission meeting, adding the city hadn't been responsive to the county's request to know more on logistics to finalize service.

At the behest of City Commissioner Curtis Richardson, Goad offered details at the commission's meeting last week.

He said Star Metro "stands willing and able" to provide service to the Amazon facility but stressed the additional cost factor would be roughly $1.3 million in start up and acquisition of the bus, along with other equipment. The operating cost would be less than $300,000.

In addition, he said transit systems around Florida and the country typically make funding arrangements with neighboring cities and counties when service goes outside of municipal corporate boundaries.

"So I think the work has been done," Goad said. "The next step would be a funding agreement with Leon County in which the Amazon facility is located."

Contact TaMaryn Waters at tlwaters@tallahassee.com or follow @TaMarynWaters on Twitter.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee Amazon facility: Bus service debate ongoing