Okaloosa County commissioners have approved a retroactive amendment to their transit contract that shields roughly $900,000 in state grant funding and may avert a potential million-dollar bill for local taxpayers, while opening the door to sweeping changes in how the county runs its bus system.

The Board of County Commissioners voted 4–0 on Tuesday to adopt the Ninth Amendment to its contract with MV Transportation, backdated to November 2019. Commissioner Paul Mixon was absent.

Transportation Director Tracy Stage, who took over the transit department just a week ago after its transfer under the airports department upon the departure of Tyrone Parker, told commissioners the change is the first step in cleaning up years of grant and contract missteps identified in an Inspector General’s report.

“This will make right roughly $900,000 with the grant funding agency, and we can move forward on other grant issues and financial situations,” Stage said, adding that MV’s leadership “shares every bit of the responsibility” for the oversight problems.

Avoiding a Seven-Figure Hit

Commission Chairman Trey Goodwin pressed Stage and senior staff to explain the stakes for the public. Stage and County Administrator John Hofstad confirmed that, without FDOT’s willingness to recognize the retroactive amendment, the county risked being found out of compliance with grant rules and forced to repay close to $1 million.

Hofstad called the outcome a product of years of collaboration with the Florida Department of Transportation.

“This is absolutely because of the very good relationship we have with district operations in DOT,” Hofstad said. “DOT has recognized that those were allowable uses within that grant fund, and this is a way to make that right.”

Stage described the resolution as “almost unprecedented,” noting that airport-related grants typically follow a simple pattern: open the grant, spend the money, and close it out. In this case, he said, the county is seven years in and asking the board to retroactively approve a management decision so that procurement policies and contract provisions with MV are properly followed.

Goodwin called the outcome “extremely significant” and said the county was “on the precipice” of enforcement action before staff mapped out a fix.

“We could have been in a lot worse jam,” Goodwin said, crediting the administration for shifting transit under airports and leveraging long-term trust with FDOT.

Empty Buses, Busy Paratransit

With the grant crisis temporarily contained, commissioners quickly pivoted to the underlying question: what kind of transit system does Okaloosa County actually need?

Stage offered an early snapshot of operations. The county runs 10 fixed routes in the off-season and 13 routes during the peak season, with some routes requiring two buses because of traffic. Most routes run from about 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., with one Crestview route starting at 4:50 a.m. on weekdays.

Despite that footprint, Stage said the system averages only 120 riders per weekday—spread across 25 buses dedicated to fixed routes.

“You’ve got nine passengers per bus, per route, for a total of 14.5 hours,” he said. “What you’re seeing … about empty buses riding around the county, that’s absolutely true. I’ve seen it myself. But that doesn’t mean somebody’s not riding it. There’s 120 people riding 25 buses per day.”

By contrast, the county’s paratransit program—which serves riders who meet eligibility requirements due to disability or disadvantage—handles an average of 185 trips per day, Stage said, and is functioning relatively well.