By Brian Massie, A Watchman on the Wall
We have written quite a few articles about the financial juggernaut known as Laketran.
There was a recent vote to either restore the 1/4% sales tax that was rescinded for a year in 2024, or continue to rescind the sales tax for another year. We attended the meeting and recorded the vote. A “YES” vote would continue to rescind the sales tax, and a “NO” would restore the sales tax as of July 1, 2025. Laketran has over $61 million in cash reserves, and their Chief Executive Officer, Ben Capelle, stated that they could operate on reserves of $40 million.
However, there can never be too much cash in reserve for this left leaning board.
Let’s compare some statistics on Laketran:
Total Ridership in 2010 was 711,607 / Total Operating Expenses were $10,631,558
Total Ridership in 2024 was 677,581 / Total Operating Expenses were $24,609,690
HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM….!
Ridership is down 34,026 (4.7%), but operating expenses went up $13,978,132 (131.4%) for the year. In 2021, they spent $14.94 per rider and in 2025 they spent $36.92 per rider.
And the extreme liberal members of the Laketran Board determined that their cash balance of $61 million is not high enough, so they voted to restore the 1/4% sales tax effective July 1, 2025…… OR DID THEY?
Here is a video documenting the vote of the Laketran Board. The Board President, Brian Falkowski, and C.E.O., Ben Capelle, thought the vote was 5 – 3. We heard 4 – 4. You can determine if Board member Kim Stenger voted “YES” to continue to rescind the sales tax or “NO” to restore the sales tax. She is the last one to vote.
When we met with Mr. Capelle the following day, he contacted Ms. Stenger and she indicated by text message that she voted “NO”.
If you agree that Ms. Stenger voted “YES”, call Laketran and let them know. We must admit that we were surprised that Dr. Joe Glavan voted “NO” to increase the sales tax. He obviously is not a fiscal conservative because he supports doubling the cost of the service per passenger.
Call Laketran at 1-888-525-3872
Contact Dr. Glavan at jglavan@laketran.com
Contact Mr. Zibbel at czibbel@laketran.com
Contact Ms. McNamee at dmcnamee@laketran.com
Contact Ms. Ochaya at rochaya@laketran.com
Contact Ms. Stenger at kstenger@laketran.com
Board President: Contact Mr. Falkowski at bfalkowski@laketran.com
This juggernaut is not finished expanding. We would not be surprised if they are trying to buy more land adjacent to their existing facility. We have heard in prior meetings that they desire to keep their buses indoors.
The Lake County Commissioners recently voted to retain Donna McNamee on the Board, but replaced Gary Swanson with Dione DeMitro, the current President and CEO of the United Way…
Knowing that Commissioner Third is an ardent supporter of the United Way, we do not think that we are incorrect in suggesting that “The Third” wanted Ms. DeMitro on the Laketran Board.
Categories: L.O.G.E., Lake County - General, Uncategorized