When John Metzinger joined Citilink in 2021, he knew he had his work cut out for him, but he was hopeful about the future of public transportation in Fort Wayne. With a cautious, yet optimistic outlook, he got to work, prioritizing making internal changes so that down the road, the agency would be better equipped to address the growing needs of the community.
He says their focus on capacities and competencies for leadership and staff has allowed them to put key foundation pieces in place. That strategy has proved effective – with Metzinger at the helm (or steering wheel, if you will), Citilink has been able to restore its ridership to 97% of pre-pandemic levels, become fully staffed, and bring on a chief financial officer with expertise on federal transit programs.
Rachel Von StroupJohn Metzinger became General Manager of Citilink Fort Wayne in April 2021.With those foundational pieces in place, it would make sense for the Citilink team to transition its focus to addressing the growing transportation needs of Fort Wayne.
Metzinger says that with the appropriate funding, Citilink would have the capacity to expand services, including new routes, later run times, and add services on Sunday back to the schedule. These changes were mentioned repeatedly in the 2025 Citilink Community Survey by current or would-be riders as ways the transit agency could improve.
“Expanded service to major employers connecting workers to Amazon, Fort Wayne Metals, and other key job hubs on the south side,” he says of the possibilities. “It’s evening service expansion, ensuring second and third shift workers have reliable transportation. It’s Sunday service for a growing city, giving residents the access they need every day of the week, not just Monday through Saturday. And then a stronger, more connected Fort Wayne. With the right level of investment, we can drive economic growth, workforce mobility, and opportunity for all.”
These ideas paint an idyllic picture of the public transit possibilities in Fort Wayne’s future, which are achievable with the proper support and funding.
But in mid-2024, the team at Citilink was forced to pivot from envisioning a bright future and instead move their attention to the bleak reality of their 2025 budget. The funding they had for the upcoming year would not sustain Citilink, its operating needs, or the rising costs of operations, let alone allow them to flourish and execute the vision they have for a more robust transit system.
In total, Citilink needed a budget of $20.8 million for 2025. Their funding, which comes from a combination of local, state, and federal funding as well as operating revenue generated from fares, contracts, and sponsorships, came up about $2.5 million shy.
Local funding, from local taxes, accounts for around $8 million of the budget. State funding comes from the Public Mass Transit Fund (PMTF), which provided $2.1 million last year. Federal funding comes in at just under $5 million.
In search of a solution, Metzinger approached the Fort Wayne City Council in late 2024, seeking a special tax levy that would help them bridge their financial gap. Citilink is required to bring its budget before the council each year for approval.
Councilwoman Michelle ChambersCouncilwoman Michelle Chambers says that while the council recognizes the importance of having viable public transportation in Fort Wayne, Citilink’s original request would have taken funding away from other departments. Instead, the council opted to have Citilink check in quarterly and allow them to seek more funding only after depleting their $1.6 million rainy day fund and spending their cash reserves to under $500,000.
A marker they have yet to hit as of the publication of this story – Metzinger reports that as of April, their rainy day balance is sitting at $625,538 after having to transfer $992,653 of that fund to cover operating expenses.
The solution provided by city council acts as a safety net, ensuring Citilink’s ability to preserve the existing level of service throughout 2025.
“It’s not going to sustain them,” Councilwoman Chambers says. “It’s going to get them through the year, looking for a way for them to adjust their budget and looking for money to be able to support the gap, but it’s a band-aid resolution.”
Metzinger carries a similar sentiment about the solution. He says the band-aid offered by city council will help maintain their service short-term, but ultimately puts Citilink in a tricky position long-term and leaves them seeking out viable solutions before their 2026 budget comes due.
“It’s highly risky for this organization to be directed to expend its reserves,” he explains. “There are practical reasons to have a reserve – that reserve exists in case of unexpected expenditures and certain liability risks. This will place Citilink in a precarious position going into 2026. Again, we’re grateful that the city has provided a safety net of funding, but I’m very concerned, as is our board of directors, that being required to expend our reserves is a risky fiscal practice. It’s not going to place Citilink in a strong financial position going into 2026. We will be at even greater risk of having to reduce service without that being resolved.”
To be clear, Metzinger says he is not exactly expecting the solution to be local. He and the rest of the team at Citilink point to larger-scale issues in the funding equation as the root of the problem.
“Federal operating revenue, local operating revenue, and our own operating revenues that we generate are growing again, right?” he explains. “So all of those are keeping pace with inflation, but state funding has been flat…it’s what’s really driving the operating deficit here in our community.”
State funding comes from the Public Mass Transit Fund (PMTF), which is administered by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT). About 65 transit agencies in Indiana benefit from the PMTF.
Larry Buckel, transit office manager for INDOT, says once the General Assembly has established the maximum amount of funds available, they use a formula to determine how much each agency receives.
In that formula, each agency has an established baseline allocation. Agencies are then divided into four categories: large fixed route, small fixed route, urban demand response, and rural demand response. INDOT allocates funds to each category based on the group’s percentage of total statewide operating expenses.
In addition to what is considered the baseline amount, agencies also receive funding based on performance in three areas. Buckle says this is determined by passengers per operating expense, miles per operating expense, and locally derived income per operating expense.
The formula allocation, according to Buckle, has been frozen from 2022 through 2025, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Transit agency leaders aren’t necessarily finding fault with this formula, but rather the lack of any sizeable increase in the fund since 2012, long before the pandemic. Citilink presents data stating its operating expenses have grown by 54% since 2013, while the PMTF has only grown by 9% in the same period.
Notably, Metzinger, who is also president of the Public Transportation Council of Indiana, says Citilink is not the only Indiana transit agency addressing financial issues stemming from stagnant state funding. Cities like South Bend and Lafayette are also facing fiscal cliffs.
Early in 2025, Metzinger made multiple trips to the statehouse to advocate for increasing public transit funding, hopeful that he and other transit leaders would see an increase in the PMTF.
“Governor Braun’s budget…budgets the state PMTF at zero percent for 2026 and 2027, which will be the third and fourth consecutive years that it’s been held at zero percent, and that is after eight years of funding that was held on average less than one percent,” he explains.
An amendment to HB 1001, submitted by the House Democratic Caucus, aimed to increase the fund by $20 million but did not succeed. Casey Claypool, director of marketing and development for Citilink, says this was the first time increased public transit funding has been considered in more than a decade. A similar amendment was also introduced in the Indiana Senate, but it was also unsuccessful.
Metzinger says Indiana’s neighboring states are a good place to start when looking for examples of better state funding for public transit.
“If you look at Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, and Illinois, they all make a greater allocation to transit funding. It’s in the hundreds of millions versus the 45 million in Indiana,” he says. “In those states, they are providing a greater level of operating support. In Michigan, the state covers roughly 30% of transit’s operating expense, whereas here it was around 11% for last year.”
This additional state funding opens doors that are currently inaccessible for Citilink. Metzinger says that they’ve been hesitant or unable to apply for federal grants that would require them to seek out additional financial support. For example, federal grants may offer to cover 80% of a project, but applicants are required to secure the other 20% from state or local sources. With such tight funding from the state already, Citilink is unable to seek out those funding opportunities.
Compounding the issue, Circuit Breaker laws established in 2008 restricted the amount of taxes Citilink can receive by limiting the amount of property taxes homeowners pay based on a percentage of their property’s gross assessed value. Claypool says this, in combination with the flatline in funding from the PMTF, creates a complex problem for their budget.
Finding an accessible, viable solution seems, at best, extremely difficult, but the Citilink team has been working closely with a number of organizations and local government officials to explore possible answers.
Even as an avid supporter of public transportation, Councilwoman Chambers says it’s difficult to say what the answer will be to Citilink’s current fiscal cliff, but she remains in the mindset that this is a problem that can be solved.
“There’s a lot of unknowns, but we have to figure it out in the unknowns,” she says. “That’s the complexity of this moment – figuring out something in the unknown.
“Trying to create a resolution in the unknown can be a little difficult, but I believe that we have a strong bipartisan commitment to make sure that Citilink thrives and remains in place,” she adds.
In April of 2025, Citilink announced it was raising fares – something it hadn’t done in more than a decade – to help address the budget shortfall.
They’re also exploring ways to outsource their paratransit (Citilink Access) and microtransit (Citilink Flex) services, while pursuing other cost-saving methods throughout the organization.
Metzinger says this could alleviate some pressure on their budget in 2026.
“We have realized savings in wages, group health insurance, fuel contract pricing, vehicle repairs, and other costs,” he explains. “Furthermore, we are evaluating services to identify areas for efficiency and productivity improvements, aiming to reduce service cuts, which will be necessary to achieve fiscal sustainability. We continue to engage with local and state leaders, as well as community partners, to identify sustainable new revenue opportunities.”
While continuing to work toward stability, Metzinger has maintained the sense of optism he brought to Fort Wayne in 2021, and continues to look beyond the current problem and push his team, local businesses, and residents to envision what Citilink could look like with more funding and a system that meets more of the community’s needs and desires.
They’re also asking people who consider themselves to be supporters to join their coalition, help them address the fiscal cliff, and advance public transportation.
In May, Citilink hosted two events where they shared results from their 2025 Community Survey and workshopped ideas that could engage the general population in their cause. In their opening remarks, both Claypool and Metzinger addressed that the agency was working to address its current fiscal instability, but also noted that it shouldn’t stop them from striving to address the needs of Citilink riders now and in the future.
“Fiscal sustainability is not just our financial imperative—it is foundational for the community’s confidence and trust,” Metzinger says. “Despite the challenges, our team remains committed to our mission and the long-term vision for Citilink. Public transit is essential for Fort Wayne’s economic growth, elevating quality of life and opportunity for our neighbors who are non-driving. By focusing on solutions and partnerships, we’re working to ensure Citilink can continue to serve the community now and in the future.”
This story was made possible by AARP Indiana.
