Members of Metro’s board of directors expressed strong skepticism Wednesday about General Manager John Catoe’s plans to seek a fare increase early next year.
“There is something screwy here,” said D.C. Council Member Jim Graham, the chair of the board’s budget committee who has opposed raising fares the past three years. “We need to get to the bottom of it.”
Catoe will brief Metro directors on his strategy today during the board’s meeting. He and the board have agreed that the system should develop a fare policy that ties increases to growth in the consumer price index and other economic indicators. Board members and riders, however, were surprised last week when Catoe suggested he would propose higher fares effective in January or February instead of waiting until next July 1, the start of Metro’s budget year.
Historically, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority fare increases have taken effect July 1.
Graham and other board members are concerned that the increases are needed to balance the $1.2 billion operating budget for fiscal 2008, which is on the board’s agenda today. Catoe and his financial team scuttled a proposed fare increase this year in favor of spending cuts and one-time revenue fixes, such as $40 million from a lawsuit settlement.
“We all understand it is a fragile budget,” said Catherine Hudgins, who represents Fairfax County on Metro’s board. “If the budget is so fragile that we need to start raising fares in the middle of it, maybe we need to take a closer look at what is in the budget.”
Metro spokeswoman Candace Smith said Catoe wants the early fare increases to raise revenue for the fiscal 2009 operating budget.
“We want to start the discussion about fares,” Smith said. “A lot of the money we used to balance the budget will not be there next year.”
If Catoe presents a fare-increase plan to the board in September, Smith said, the earliest passengers would begin to pay more to ride Metro would be February.
