Weirton Transit Corp. officials are looking at their options, with a likely temporary shutdown of services looming in the coming weeks.

The WTC Board of Trustees met Monday night receiving a status report on the operations of the public transit provider, which is running low on funds after focusing attention on resolving a delinquent tax issue discovered in the fall of 2021.

“This is not something any of us want to see happen, but, unfortunately, we don’t have a choice,” explained board Vice President Frank Bohach.

A special meeting, along with a public hearing, will be held at 6 p.m. Monday to review proposals, which could include ceasing operations through the month of June, reducing or eliminating routes, cutting personnel, or operating on limited days.

Mike Paprocki, executive director of the Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission, explained he had reviewed the transit company’s financial statements, as well as reports generated by an accounting firm with which WTC has been working, indicating the group has, essentially, run out of available funding to operate.

“You’ve got to cut something here. That’s the bottom line,” he said.

Paprocki pointed to what he said was the previous use of CARES Act funds to support operations and expanding some services without the necessary financial support as key contributing factors, as well as the nonpayment of various taxes, which resulted in additional penalties.

“You let the services get out of hand,” Paprocki told the board, explaining in 2018 and 2019, WTC operated with a $450,000 budget, but then it expanded to $750,000 as a result of federal COVID funds. “What I’m seeing is expenditures that are beyond your means.”

Transit Manager Phil Gilcrest noted the CARES Act funds had been spent by the time he came on board. Gilcrest was hired as operations manager in July 2021, and promoted to transit manager the following October.

Board member Brian Maley said there had been issues, previously, getting clear financial reports, internally and from outside sources employed by the board in an effort to address some of the issues.

“If we went wrong anywhere, it’s that we weren’t getting the services we thought we were getting,” agreed board President Flora Perrone.

Some efforts to implement cuts already have moved forward, including shutting down a route into Follansbee, which was launched last year without any financial support from that city. An agreement with a human resources firm also has been canceled.

Gilcrest Monday announced the accounting firm they had been using had given verbal indication it would be canceling its services with WTC, with the board agreeing to develop a request for proposal in the hopes of either hiring a new bookkeeper or finding a new firm.

Paprocki told the board they are going to have to look at a “bare bones” approach in the hopes of getting through the next six months, offering support from BHJ to look at more long-term planning.