Houston’s NEW Metro to hold budget hearings Sept. 27
Written by jrood
Houston's NEW METRO is hosting a public hearing on its FY2011 budget at noon Sept. 27 and the public is encouraged to attend. In a break from past practice, the budget will be presented by METRO's President & CEO George Greanias.
Detailed operating and
capital budgets will be available for viewing beginning Friday morning, Sept.
24, on METRO’s Web site, www.ridemetro.org. The public hearing will be
broadcast live on the Web site.
"We want the public to
know how this budget was assembled and to assure the public that its tax
dollars are being spent wisely," said METRO Board Chairman Gilbert A. Garcia,
CFA.
Greanias said the NEW
METRO will always strive to be strong stewards of taxpayer dollars. He
acknowledged that the proposed fiscal 2011 budget reflects current economic
challenges.
"We scrubbed this budget
looking for areas to save money without compromising service to our customers,"
Greanias said. "Some savings are small, like removing office plants, while
others are larger like eliminating more than 150 desktop and network printers."
The operating budget
reflects no fare increase for riders or elimination of routes.
Greanias stressed that
METRO employees are making sacrifices, including a 30 percent increase in
health insurance premiums and the elimination of car allowances for METRO upper
management.
"In the NEW METRO, our
senior management will be graded, in part, on the number of times they ride our
service," Greanias said. "It just makes sense that they ride the system they
manage."
Delays in federal funding
for the light-rail build-out had a major impact on proposed spending levels,
which Greanias stressed will be revised throughout FY2011 as developments in
funding and sales tax income change.
"We built this budget on
the basis of pragmatic conservatism, so that more things are likely to go in
our favor than not," he said.
At the hearing, the public
will be encouraged to comment on the budget. Those comments will be evaluated
prior to the budget adoption on Sept. 28.
