LACMTA to hold public meeting on FY12 budget

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority will hold a public hearing on a draft $4.145 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2011-12 on Wednesday, May 18, at Metro Headquarters. The public can view copies of the balanced budget proposal at Metro.net (type in keyword budget in Search). LACMTA directors could consider adopting the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2011, following the public hearing or at their Thursday, May 26, meeting. LACMTA CEO Art Leahy's budget proposal calls for keeping fares at current levels, however, the CEO is proposing to lower the cost of the Metro day pass from $6 down to $5 for a six month test to help attract commuters and others squeezed by rising gas prices. In FY 12, LACMTA may expand the Metro Rail system. Trains are being tested for the first phase of the Expo light rail line that will run from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City past USC. Leahy stressed that LACMTA is not skimping on maintenance or on street supervision and is focused on improving on-time performance, equipment reliability and cleanliness. He also said he is positioning the agency to strategically add service where it's needed and to give commuters and others more incentives to beat the high price of gas. Service is being added to the Silver Line express bus service from the South Bay into downtown Los Angeles, the Metro Gold Line and the Metro Red Line subway. For the third year in a row, the budget assumes no wage increase for employees. However, LACMTA is negotiating new contracts with its major labor unions representing operators, maintenance employees and clerks. The FY 12 draft budget is $247 million or 6.3 percent more than the current $3.898 billion budget. This reflects a significant expansion of the Measure R program in the next fiscal year. In 2008 more than 2 million Los Angeles County voters approved the Measure R half cent sales tax to advance a dozen major transit projects and 15 highway projects. In the new fiscal year LACMTA will be spending $1.164 billion on Measure R projects and programs compared to $889 million this fiscal year. And the remaining five percent of the budget will be for developing real time customer information such as Nextrip that uses GPS technology to track when buses will arrive, preparing the LACMTA workforce for the next generation, ensuring financial sustainability and advancing Metro's environmental efforts. Beware that there are risk factors for the draft budget. LACMTA is not immune to the state and federal budget woes that could cut transportation funding.