Chris Hill,Collin County Commissioner and Texoma Area Paratransit System board chairman, will host a town hall meeting at 7 p.m. Nov. 5 at the Collin County Court house, 2100 Bloomdale Rd., to discuss TAPS' current financial and operational struggles.

Hill will be providing an update to those in attendance and will also be answering any questions presented.

The 15-county rural and urban public transit provider and McKinney’s sole public transportation provider is currently $4 million in debt and could finish the year with a $600,000 to $1.4 million deficit. According to a newsletter sent by Hill on Nov. 1,  the board of directors has become aware of significant financial struggles facing the organization, including unpaid liabilities, excessive levels of service, and a budget deficit for the fiscal year just ended.

The newsletter states that the first indications of trouble began to appear in early 2015. At that time, Hill wrote, board members began to receive constituent complaints with greater frequency and specificity, reporting such shortcomings as difficulty scheduling trips, long wait times, no-show buses, and other service problems.

During this same period of time, Hill wrote, the Federal Transit Administration launched a Financial Management Oversight Review (FMO) of the agency. The FMO was an audit of TAPS' internal controls over compliance with FTA requirements, and revealed multiple material weaknesses and significant deficiencies.

In response to concerns uncovered during the audit, coupled with rider complaints, the TAPS board formed a finance committee Aug. 12 to dig a little deeper. By Aug. 26, TAPS staffers told the committee that financial statements, internal financial reports, bank reconciliation reports and other documents requested were unavailable for inspection.

The reasons were myriad, Hill said, but the conclusion was indisputable: the TAPS' management team possessed little knowledge of the agency's true financial situation.

Hill said unpaid invoices include several items that threaten the ongoing operations of the agency, including IRS payroll taxes, rent payments for TAPS' facilities in McKinney and Sherman, employee health insurance and vehicle liability insurance premiums.

At the September 16 meeting, the board of directors unanimously accepted the resignation of former TAPS executive director Brad Underwood and his replacement by interim Executive Director Tim Patton.

Since taking over as the Chairman of the TAPS board in mid-October, Hill said he has directed the staff to implement a recovery strategy in three parts: reducing service levels to match the agency's funding, seek reimbursement for eligible expenses already paid by the agency, and restore cash flow through financing arrangements with state, regional, and local transit partners.

The board has already taken the necessary steps to implement the first of these two actions. In the board meeting last week, the board of directors approved a budget that would allow the agency to pay back unpaid obligations within 24 months, should TAPS be successful in securing the necessary working capital to sustain the organization.

On Oct. 21, the board requested emergency funding from TxDOT but by Oct. 30, TxDOT had denied the request.