The Metro board of directors is slated to pass a $2.14 billion budget on Thursday, the final step after months of drawn-out meetings, discussions and public hearings as the agency struggled to plug a gaping budget shortfall.
The early forecast on the budget had been grim, with transit agency officials initially suggesting they needed to make $87 million in service cuts to bridge an $154 million budget gap.
The agency did eliminate 313 jobs but escaped nearly all the proposed service cuts that would have hit 72 bus lines. Instead, the board agreed to tap the agency’s “rainy day” reserve fund for just over $13 million and find savings elsewhere.
Now, only four bus routes in Maryland — the Z2, L7, C7 and C9 — are being eliminated, while three others will charge higher fares. Several routes in Alexandria are being restructured.
Even as the board is poised to approve the budget that starts July 1, the transit agency’s directors are looking ahead to the following year’s budget because the economic situation is supposed to be equally challenging. Fare increases likely will be considered.
In 2008, the agency raised fares more than ever before. At the time, the board of directors voted to consider raising fares on a two-year cycle, making 2010 the next year they could try to increase fares.
Despite the tight economic constraints, the new budget the board is expected to approve clocks in higher than the $1.9 billion approved last year.
The majority of it — $1.4 billion — represents the operating costs of the system, with $546.7 million of that coming as a subsidy from local jurisdictions. Passenger fares and other revenue sources such as advertising do not cover the costs of running all the trains and buses, so the jurisdictions that the system serves subsidize their share through a formula based on ridership and other factors.
Those communities all faced challenging finances of their own this year, as tax revenues dropped. So the transit agency tried to keep their contributions steady without raising fares. But Montgomery, Prince George’s and Fairfax counties are all slated to raise their subsides from the current amounts.
