Mission schools secure new bus company

A new transportation company will oversee bus routes for the St. Ignatius Public School District for the 2018-19 school year.

During the Aug. 21 Board of Education meeting, a transportation committee reviewed contractor bids, according to Superintendent Jason Sargent, and chose Smyth Construction of St. Ignatius for the bussing contract.

The decision to hire the company came after the district opted out of a contract with J.C. Bussing, Inc., following the arrest of owner Scott Johnson in May.

Johnson was arrested on a charge of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.

Over the summer, buses owned by J.C. Bussing as well as Johnson’s office were tested for meth, with one bus that Johnson used testing positive.

A five-year contract was negotiated, Sargent said.

Smyth, who owns the company with wife Kelly, said that the support from the community has been positive.

“We’re overwhelmed with how many community members have thanked us for putting this together,” Smyth said Tuesday afternoon.

Smyth Construction began as an excavacting business in 1997, adding a log-truck section to the company, he said.

As information became available to the public regarding Johnson, Smyth said he felt there was a need to help the district and families, so “we put together a proposal.”

NINE SCHOOL buses owned by Smyth Construction will be kept at the district’s garage, Smyth said.

Sargent also said that in November, the St. Ignatius Public School District will run a bond “that will decide the direction of the contract future,” Sargent said.

The bond would cost taxpayers about the same for the district to run their own buses, Sargent said, as it would to pay for the bond.

In the event the bond does not pass, the district would need to research running their own buses in five years to help generate funds through a permissive levy.

Sargent said that if the district owned its own buses, a permissive levy could then be instated — without a vote by taxpayers, generating between $200,000 and $300,000 annually through what he called “a bus depreciation tax,” which is currently at zero due to the contracted busing.

The last time the bond was run, Sargent said that the annual payment was around $280,000, with additional aid from the State of Montana supporting the payment.