The extra dime per trip that Metro began to charge riders this spring isn’t making up for the emergency budget shortfall it was supposed to help solve, according to a new Metro report.
In fact, the agency says it has an even bigger hole than it forecast. Instead of a $40 million shortfall for the entire year, the latest monthly financial report shows Metro is $54.2 million below budget, with three months left to make up the difference.
Metro began to charge 10 cents extra per trip on Feb. 28 with the idea that the emergency surcharge could bring in $9.6 million through June to help make up for faltering ridership, according to the report. The transit agency planned to scrape together the rest of the $40 million through other funds.
But the winter snowstorms made matters worse. Metro shut down aboveground train service for several days in February and closed early on others.
Then, in March — the first full month of the surcharge — riders’ fares brought in $1.4 million less than anticipated, the report says. March showed somewhat stronger rail ridership, climbing above the same month of 2009. But the report credits one extra weekday, rather than a surge of riders, for causing much of the boost. Even so, it wasn’t enough to meet the monthly budget estimates.
Metro normally could use its reserve funds to cover a shortfall. But it used some of those reserves in June to create the current budget, then agreed to drain the last bit for the emergency shortfall.
Metro Chairman Peter Benjamin said the agency can find a way to fill the remaining gap before the year ends or take advantage of a clause called the “two-years-hence” rule. That’s essentially making taxpayers cough up the difference. The rule calls for the jurisdictions that make up the agency’s compact to divvy up the shortage, then pay the amount in two years. The technique has been used in the past, Benjamin said.
But he said it’s not clear Metro will need to do that as it depends on what the agency assumed would happen in April, May and June, which typically have strong ridership.
The reason why Metro is in such straits is because it fell short of its ridership estimates in each of the first nine months in the current fiscal year, for a 9 percent ridership drop below expectations. The biggest hit occurred on Metrobus. That has translated to less fare money coming in.
Now Metro will have to make up for an even bigger gap, as an $189 million hole looms for the next budget. Metro staffers could not detail how the agency planned to make up the difference Tuesday. Yet some board members are confident the agency can do it, even if that means deferring projects or getting more from taxpayers.
“We will. It’s just a matter of where it comes from,” said board member Christopher Zimmerman. “We have to balance the budget.”
