4-09-09, 9:37 am

Original source: The Atlanta Progressive News

(APN) ATLANTA – State and local lawmakers joined with activist groups Wednesday, April 08, 2009, in urging Gov. Sonny Perdue to call a special session of the Georgia General Assembly to deal with transportation funding issues.

'Come September, it's going to be a regional walk to work day,' Benita West, President of Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 732, said Wednesday during a press conference at the Five Points Metra Atlanta Regional Transit Authority (MARTA) station.

West was one of many Wednesday to pile blame on State leaders for failing to take necessary action on transportation during the 2009 Session of the Georgia General Assembly, which ended April 3.

Not only did legislation to create a new transit funding mechanism fail, lawmakers also left MARTA in a financial crisis.

SB 120, which would have lifted restrictions on MARTA's use of its capital reserve funds, passed the State Senate but not the House, leaving MARTA unable to access $65 million in its capital reserve account to make up for a critical gap in its operating budget.

MARTA needs to use some of its capital reserve funds for its immediate operational costs.

MARTA officials announced Monday the Board of Directors may have to make significant cuts, including the system-wide elimination of service one day a week, unless the State acts.

'I can't emphasize enough how critical it is that MARTA be allowed flexibility to use its reserve account to fund operation of the system,' MARTA Board Chairman Michael Walls said in a statement Monday. 'We implore the state to please reconsider this issue so that during this difficult economic time we can keep this essential transportation service running, which acts as a lifeline for so many people.'

'People need to be able to get to work,' State Sen. Horacena Tate (D-Atlanta) said Wednesday. 'We do not need to be looking at cutting service one day a week.'

'We are in a crisis mode,' State Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta) said Wednesday. 'It is time now for the governor to act.'

State Sen. Nan Orrock (D-Atlanta), who called on Gov. Perdue to sign an emergency executive order releasing MARTA's capital funds, described the collapse of SB 120 as 'a failure to act and a failure to govern.'

'The leaders at the highest levels turned their backs on the economy, they turned their backs on the state of Georgia, and they turned their backs on the future,' Orrock said.

Other speakers Wednesday said it is MARTA's right to use its money, which comes mainly from a portion of sales taxes paid by consumers in Fulton and DeKalb Counties, as it sees fit.

'This is our money and we want it now,' Atlanta City Councilman C.T. Martin said.

John Eaves, Chairman of the Fulton County Commission, noted taxpayers in Fulton have contributed $6 billion over 30 years to MARTA.

'Ultimately, the cost of public transportation will have to be shared metro-wide,' Eaves said.

'What is unique about MARTA is, it is the only big city transit system that doesn't get one penny from the State,' Fort said.

State Sen. Kasim Reed (D-Atlanta), a candidate for Atlanta mayor, said the effects of losing MARTA service one day a week will reach beyond the region.

'Atlanta's ability to compete as a convention center is in jeopardy,' Reed said. 'The Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau will have to notify [potential conventioneers] that MARTA doesn't run seven days a week.'

MARTA officials will present a proposed fiscal year 2010 budget to its Board of Directors on April 28.

As an initial cost-saving method, MARTA officials are proposing recommendations such as mandatory 10-day furloughs for non-represented staff, deferral of merit-based increases for non-represented employees, and increasing the healthcare contributions of non-represented employees from 8 percent to 15 percent.

Officials have identified nearly $288 million of the $442 million MARTA needs to fill the budget gap through fiscal year 2012. But because of reduced tax receipts due to the poor economy – sales tax revenue decreases when consumer spending falls--MARTA still faces a $24 million budget shortfall in its FY 2010 operating budget.

'Without the ability to access the capital funds, we will be forced to make such drastic cuts that greatly impact the economic vitality and quality of life in our region and state,' Walls said Monday. 'With our state's unemployment rate hitting 9.3 percent in February, it is critical that Gov. Sonny Perdue and state lawmakers help us avoid having to make service reductions that would make it difficult for many of our local residents to get to work or to search for jobs,' MARTA General Manager Bev Scott said in a press release.

'Without access to this funding, we will essentially sever a critical economic engine in our state and no doubt send our economy into an even greater hole,' Walls added. 'MARTA is simply requesting access to funding that already exists within our capital budget in order to maintain a reasonable level of service that will get us through the economic tsunami we have all had to deal with.'

TRANSPORTATION FUNDING BILLS ALSO FAILED

In addition to failing to provide MARTA with the flexibility it needed to fund its immediate operations, the legislature also neglected to pass a mechanism to adequately fund MARTA going forward.

The House passed HB 277, which would have let voters decide in 2010 whether or not to levy a one-cent sales tax to fund statewide funding projects, which could include MARTA.

The Senate passed SB 39, which would have let voters decide in 2010 whether or not to give counties the authority to band together in the future to levy a one-cent regional sales tax to fund transportation projects in that region.

But neither chamber was willing to give way on its preferred approach. After weeks of tedious negotiation between the legislative leadership, Gov. Perdue, and other interested transportation parties, no one could reach a deal before the end of the Session.

However, the Assembly did pass a bill that the Governor had wanted; SB 200 strips power from the board that governs the Georgia Department of Transportation and divides that power between the Assembly and the governor

--Jonathan Springston is a Senior Staff Writer for The Atlanta Progressive News, and is reachable is jonathan@atlantaprogressivenews.com.