Community members gathered at a previous meeting at the Bemus Point Public Library where they listened to a presentation regarding the school’s electric bus transition plan.

BEMUS POINT — The Bemus Point Central School District has planned one more meeting to help inform the local community about their plans to use the 2023 EPA rebate award to purchase two electric buses before the community vote at the beginning of September.

A public hearing is scheduled for Aug. 28 at the Bemus Point Elementary School at 7 p.m. The community vote will follow the week after, on Sept. 5 from 2 to 8 p.m. in the Maple Grove STEAM Room at Maple Grove High School.

The 2023 EPA Clean School Bus Rebate Award is a federal award that comes in the form of $400,000 all together, so $200,000 per bus. Other financial incentives the district is now able to get includes a NYSBIP Voucher, which allows for $147,000 per bus, a NYSBIP Rebate which gives $55,000 per charger, the Federal Tax Program which gives $40,000 per bus and to have National Grid cover 90% of costs to “future proof” the bus garage for the entire electric fleet. With all of these incentives, the purchasing of the buses will be tax neutral.

The district needs to let the EPA know they will be moving forward with the grant by Nov 29. In order to move forward, the district needs the community to vote to allow for a Bond Anticipation Note. The BAN allows for coverage of the local share of the project, which is a $236,000 project. The District Debt Service will be paid over twelve years, and the project is eligible for Transportation Aid of 57.10%. The Federal Tax Credit will be $80,000 to reduce the local share.

Superintendent Joseph Reyda said the district has been working on informing the public on the transition plan over the last few months before the vote, including a tour of an electric bus.

“We brought an electric bus to the district in July to allow the community to see it in person and to ask questions,” Reyda said. “Over twenty community members attended the event. We then took all of their questions and added them to our website so that everyone could see them and have the answers.”

Several questions the district has received have been in regards to how the funding works. Reyda said the funding is something that will benefit the district and something that the district needs to take advantage of.

“We’ve had several questions about how the funding works to purchase these vehicles,” Reyda said. “Since Bemus Point is considered a non-priority district, we haven’t had a lot of experience using large scale financial incentives. We’re now explaining where the incentives come from, how they work, and how they ultimately benefit the district.”

The public hearing on Aug 28 will cover a final electric bus presentation with the community. Representatives from the district and Leonard Bus Sales will be in attendance to answer any final questions the community may have.

Every school district in the state faces a mandate to begin buying electric buses in 2027, with entire fleets required to be zero-emission by 2035.

“This is a challenge that every school district is currently facing,” Reyda said. “We were fortunate to receive a 2023 EPA rebate award that also provided a host of other financial incentives that will essentially cover the costs of the first two electric school buses and cover a substantial portion of the project to upgrade the bus garage for future electric school bus purchases. If we do not choose to use this rebate award, we still will have to replace our diesel buses with electric ones. This is a mandate that just isn’t going away.”

Reyda encouraged the community to come out and vote on Sept 5 to allow the district to move forward with the rebate award. The award is set to make the required transition slightly easier for the school.

“We applied for and received the 2023 EPA rebate award to lessen the financial burden on the Bemus Point community,” Reyda said. “We now have the ability to replace two of our buses with no additional tax increase. Rather than replacing 20 buses, we would now only need to replace 18. We’ve going to continue applying for every rebate and grant available to us, but the chances of the district getting another substantial financial award are not likely.”

All of the information about Bemus Point’s electric bus transition plan is available on the district’s website, bemusptcsd.org. Reyda encouraged everyone to check out the website to get as much information as possible before the upcoming public hearing and vote.