Metro likely will end the current budget year $25 million in the hole because of months of faltering ridership, the February snowstorms and rising MetroAccess costs, the agency’s top financial executive said Thursday.
The hole comes despite a temporary 10-cent surcharge the agency began in late February to cover the projected shortfall for the year ending June 30. Officials had hoped the surcharge, plus other measures including the depletion of a rainy day fund, would stem the loss of money.
Last month, Metro Deputy General Manager for Finance and Administration Carol Dillon Kissal expected the shortfall to be $15 to $20 million. But on Thursday she told board members that she now expects it to be $25 million.
The board can ignore the problem in the short term: it doesn’t have to worry about it until fiscal year 2012 begins, Kissal said. But then it will start the already challenging budget process with a $25 million deficit to make up.
