Council looking to restore $1 million to MTA

By MICHAEL CASS • Staff Writer (Tennessean)• June 16, 2008 The Metro Council is poised to restore $1 million to the Metro Transit Authority's budget for the upcoming fiscal year, a move that would save some public bus routes from the chopping block. Councilman Erik Cole, chairman of the council's Budget and Finance Committee, said the substitute budget the council plans to vote on Tuesday night would reflect the high priority the council is placing on public transportation at a time of bruising increases in gas prices. "It would be a terrible year to send a signal that we didn't care about public transportation," Cole said. MTA's board voted last month to raise bus fares and eliminate seven routes to help make up a $2.9 million shortfall driven by spikes in the cost of diesel fuel. Mayor Karl Dean's budget proposal for the year starting July 1 would cut MTA's funding by $400,000 even as the authority said it needed $2.5 million more than it's getting this year. Dean, who planned to increase funding to public schools and not much else in a tight fiscal year, has said he wishes he could have done more for MTA. Paul Ballard, MTA's chief executive, said the authority would wait to see the final numbers approved by the council before announcing the routes it would restore. "But it's good news," Ballard said. "It's great news." Any shift in budget funds comes with a cost, however. Cole said the $1 million would come from an assortment of "administrative accounts and contingency funds," including money set aside to help some Metro departments relocate before a capital funding shortage forced the city to reconsider those plans. The mayor's office, the council office and the Metro Arts Commission also would see their funding reduced somewhat beyond what the mayor proposed, Cole said. "We really wanted to demonstrate that we could spread out the impact," he said. The $1 million includes $200,000 Dean had already committed to MTA, Ballard said. Those funds would let MTA continue serving Metro magnet school students, who don't receive transportation from the school district. The council's Budget and Finance Committee meets at 4 p.m. today in the council chamber at the Metro Courthouse. The full council meets Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

Council may finalize budget next week

By MICHAEL CASS • Staff Writer • June 10, 2008 The Metro Council may approve Nashville's 2008-09 operating budget on June 17, a week ahead of schedule, the council's budget chairman said today. The council has been planning to take its third and final vote June 24, with the $1.576 billion budget taking effect July 1. But Erik Cole, chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee, said there's no point in waiting an extra week if the council is ready before then. He said no decision has been made yet. Cole said the council might still try to find more money for the Metro Transit Authority, which is planning to cut seven bus routes and raise fares by 25 cents to help make up a $2.9 million budget gap. But doing so could add to the pain for other agencies that are already scheduled to see their funding reduced. "If there's a single priority that kind of cuts across the board, it's MTA," Cole said. "But there's not a lot of room." It would take more than $1.5 million to restore all seven bus routes, according to MTA calculations.