McLennan County Rural Transit District finance staff on Oct. 17, 2025 told the board that financial reports through September do not include state grant reimbursements submitted to the Texas Department of Transportation, creating an apparent year-to-date shortfall that staff expect to resolve when reimbursements post.

Finance staff (Jen) said the city has not closed September and that grant revenues for September are not recorded until the district submits reimbursement requests to TxDOT. Staff said additional state funds from prior award years were recorded and that the district expects reimbursements to cover the current gap once processed.

The board heard that the district implemented new payroll software (Paycor) in August to allocate support-staff hours and benefits more accurately across operations and administration. Staff said better job costing should clarify why some wage and benefits accounts appeared over budget under the previous spreadsheet system and that implementation costs for two software platforms (the Spare operations app and payroll software) were one-time charges that will be significantly smaller in FY26.

When asked whether a regional designation change to a Transportation Management Area (TMA) after the census would affect rural transit funding, staff said the TMA designation would reduce state funding currently available to Waco Transit but that the district’s state and federal funds for rural services are separate and should not be affected in the same way. Staff said any reallocation would be determined by TxDOT and could change based on how other systems’ classifications shift.

The board voted to accept the financial report for recording purposes. Staff said they review budgets and hours monthly and will provide any necessary corrective entries; they pledged to bring historical and final financials to the Nov. 13 meeting when the city has closed September.