KALAMAZOO (WKZO) -- The effort to create a Kalamazoo County Transportation Authority has been underway since 2005, and it appears that because of all the obstacles, it could take years more to put into place.

The Kalamazoo County Board has accepted a white paper on the future of the Metro Transit System, outlining a multi-year phased approach to creating the county-wide transportation authority. The White Paper outlines a process that will take another three years or longer to roll out.

The white paper suggests that if it was owned by a County Authority, and separated from direct oversight by elected officials, it would be easier to make the difficult personnel decisions necessary if state and federal support suddenly dried up. 80% of the budget is personnel costs.

Any real decisions are years away, and depend on events that no one can predict. But if the cuts do come, the county has a plan.