Warning that inadequate public funding has placed mass transit in the Chicago area “at a crossroads,” the CTA released a proposed 2007 budget Thursday that counts on an extra $110 million state subsidy to make ends meet.
The expectation of more financial help comes on the heels of a $54 million state bailout of the CTA last year along with the admonition from some lawmakers that the transit agency should not return to Springfield with its hat in hand.
Regional Transportation Authority chairman Jim Reilly said he agrees that annual “fixes” are not the solution. The “Moving Beyond Congestion” campaign that the RTA is spearheading calls for the creation of dedicated state funding sources to finance the operations and capital-improvement budgets of the CTA, Metra and Pace.
Pace, meanwhile, also put out a budget plan Thursday that assumes new funding from the state, for which there is no guarantee. The suburban bus agency said it would need almost $23 million in additional funding to balance its 2007 budget.
Metra is set to issue its budget proposal for next year on Friday. The suburban commuter rail agency is expected to continue its pattern of using some capital-improvement dollars to cover operating costs, which in the long run delays major projects and adds to their costs.
The CTA’s proposed $1.1 billion operating budget, which is 9 percent higher than the 2006 budget, does not include fare increases or service cuts.
In that regard, it is unlike recent CTA budgets that laid out doomsday scenarios if the General Assembly and the governor failed to either provide a bailout or, preferably, a long-term solution.
But next year’s budget presumes that the General Assembly, facing funding demands ranging from schools to public-employee pensions, will come through in a big way for the CTA and Pace.
“Whether 2007 will be a good year for transit or a bad year is still not clear,” CTA president Frank Kruesi said in delivering his 10th proposed budget since joining the agency in 1997. But Kruesi said “the status quo is not an option.”
Kruesi said CTA and Pace would have no choice except to “shrink the system” if state lawmakers do not create new funding sources for transit by spring.
But an influential government watchdog group chastised the CTA for putting out a budget plan that is based on a $110 million contribution from the state that has not been pledged or guaranteed.
“We are surprised and disappointed. It is not fiscally responsible to propose a budget that lacks an identified revenue source for 10 percent of the spending planned over the coming year,” said Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation of Chicago.
The Civic Federation supports additional funding to the region’s transit agencies, Msall said. But he said the CTA must take some “self-help steps,” including eliminating some late-night Owl service and raising fares, to persuade the state that increased transit subsidies are justified.
CTA officials attributed most of the agency’s increased operating costs to more expensive labor contracts and fuel costs. Some riders said service levels do not match what commuters are paying.
“The [cash] fares are already $2, and that’s not reasonable,” said Arianna Fultz, 18, a student at Harold Washington College who waited Thursday for a Green Line train at the State-Lake station downtown. “For the quality of service provided, they should make it a lot cheaper.”
Fares aren’t enough
CTA ridership is projected to increase about 3 percent in 2007, but the farebox provides less than half of operating revenue. The CTA is required to generate 52 percent of its operating revenue from fares, advertising and other sources. That total is projected at $552.7 million in 2007. The CTA needs an additional $580.5 million in public funding but has identified only $470.3 million.[ tribune ]
