Clastran paratransit service may need more matching funds from the town to continue service.

At the Morris Town Council’s regular meeting on Tuesday, representatives from ClasTran proposed a plan to offer a dedicated bus to serve all elderly and disabled citizens in the town for $10 an hour for 40 hours a week, or $400 per week.

ClasTran Executive Director Fenn Church said finding matching funds from municipalities is going to be the greatest challenge finding money in the next fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. When municipalities pay ClasTran money, it gets grant money from the federal government. The federal match increases exponentially as cities and towns give more. If Morris agrees to pay the $1,600 a month for a Morris-exclusive bus, it will generate $8,000 for ClasTran.

The town currently pays $150 a month just to keep regular bus service to and from the town’s senior center running. ClasTran actually asked for $400 a month, but the council said it couldn’t afford it.

Church said ClasTran buses will complete 134,696 bus trips in the county by the beginning of September; of those trips, 1,602 were in Morris, which accounts for 1.24 percent of all ClasTran service. Church is asking for $6,180 in match funding for the next year based on that percentage.

Birmingham’s match dollars have also been a large portion of ClasTran’s finances, but funding for ClasTran is not included in the city’s official budget for next year.