| OCTA faces a large and very real revenue shortfall. The major source of bus subsidies is a 1/4 cent dedicated sales tax, and sales tax revenues have plummeted with the Great Recession. The other big hit comes from the elimination of a long-term state transit assistance fund, which was eaten by the latest budget deal. The bus fund receives $11 million a year in property tax, which is forecast to be flat instead of growing.
OCTA's budget shows a big chunk of money coming from Obama's stimulus package, some $75 million through the end of 2010, but OCTA relied on gloomy five year projections to develop a few scenarios, and chose the most draconian cuts, rather than attempting to scale back service gradually.
What could OCTA do differently?
OCTA could take less money for the local transit fund for administration,which sucks $8 million a year from the bus fund for administrative overhead - including its wasteful $11 million a year external affairs budget. This year's external affairs budget shows $4.8 million in costs for 45 employees as well as 3.4 million for professional service, like the $5,000 a month they pay Republcan party chair Scott Baugh every month. Putting 8 million a year back into paying for bus services would go a long way to staving off cutbacks.
This would let the other major source of revenue - Measure M funding, carry the administrative burden.
Listening to yesterday's meeting, where the board voted to continue to study a $3.9 billion tunnel under the Santa Ana River, it's obvious that there's plenty of room for eliminating waste by cutting back on consultants contracts.
OCTA could cut back the rates it pays to consultants and defer some of the planning that it's doing. Why spend a lot of money building an Anaheim Regional Transit Center if you've cut the bus services that are at the core of regional transit?
OCTA could rely on its reserves more and work aggressively to restore state revenue.
But you didn't hear the OCTA Directors talking about any of these options. |
