The Regional Transportation Authority board voted Tuesday to approve a compromise on 1988 funding levels for the RTA`s three subsidiaries, ending an impasse that had delayed the agency`s budget process and caused it to miss a deadline imposed by law.
The measure, passed by a 10-to-1 vote, means next year the CTA will receive $309.8 million in RTA operating subsidies. Metra, the commuter rail agency, will get $135.9 million and Pace, the suburban bus agency, $49.3 million.
The CTA will receive an additional $2 million and Pace an additional $841,000 for operations in 1988 from budget savings they expect to realize this year.
The funding allocations assume that the CTA will proceed with plans to generate additional revenues next year by imposing a 10-cent fare increase on bus riders as well as raising the price of monthly passes by an amount that has not been announced. Passes cost $46.
Officials of the three service boards had strenuously opposed funding marks proposed earlier by the RTA staff, and RTA board members could not agree on the subsidy levels at a meeting last week. That caused the board to miss a Sept. 15 deadline imposed by state law.
However, no sanctions are spelled out by the statute in case of such a failure. Penalties apply only if the RTA fails to pass a final budget by Dec. 31. The law calls for suspension of millions of dollars in state financial aid if that happens.
RTA Chairman Samuel Skinner hailed the funding levels set Tuesday, saying they represent a successful attempt at cost containment and ”a significant step forward.”
The figures reflect total spending in 1988 that will be $65 million less than what the three subsidiaries originally had proposed, officials said.
Growth in spending will be only 2.1 percent above the level budgeted by the RTA for systemwide expenditures in 1987 and 4.3 percent above actual expenditures expected by year end, they said.
William Walsh, a board member from La Grange Park, cast the sole dissenting vote. He objected to a provision in the compromise which, in effect, will mean the transfer of various reserves from the RTA to Metra and Pace.
