Request adds even more positions than original proposal Metro is seeking to add 345 positions in its coming budget, increasing its request for staffing yet again.
The transit agency says in a report to its board of directors that it would like to raise the headcount to 11,319. That’s even more than the agency sought in January when Metro originally released a budget proposal calling for 263 new positions. It’s the second year in a row that Metro would increase its staffing, after scaling back with layoffs the year before.
The request represents a trend since Richard Sarles arrived last spring as general manager. He has brought in new executives, created new high-level positions, shaken up his communications staff and given out bonuses as big as $20,000 to top-paid workers. He has said he wants to bring in the best and the brightest to return the transit system to a “state of good repair.”
Source: Metro
| » 2002: 9,965 |
| » 2003: 10,156 |
| » 2004: 10,015 |
| » 2005: 10,294 |
| » 2006: 10,451 |
| » 2007: 11,102 |
| » 2008: 11,483 |
| » 2009: 11,232 |
| » 2010: 10,853 |
| » 2011: 10,974 |
| » Proposed 2012: 11,319 |
Meanwhile, the agency has been trying to close a $66 million budget shortfall. In the coming weeks, Metro’s board of directors is expected to approve the budget, which tops out at $2.55 billion and begins July 1. Local communities are expected to meet most, if not all, of the gap by increasing the size of their taxpayer-funded subsidies to reach $686.9 million of the proposed $1.48 billion operating budget. The remaining $1.03 billion covers capital costs to improve and maintain the agency’s facilities and equipment.
Meanwhile, Metro has been grappling with vacancies, especially among bus drivers, train operators and station managers. But most of proposed jobs in the upcoming budget aren’t in places where riders will see them.
Thirty-four of the new positions are in bus operations, according to the report. Yet Metro is seeking to add another 129 positions for “infrastructure renewal.” It has 87 new slots for the information technology division and 61 others slated for financial services.
Ten of the new jobs are for the escalator and elevator maintenance division. Thirteen new transit police positions are being sought, but riders might not feel their presence directly as they are intended as “enhancement of bus garage security” after a 19-year-old walked into a garage last year and stole a bus.
Just one of the new positions is for a safety job.
