Stuff I found in my mailbox:


MARTA back in black --- for now
Paul Donsky - Staff
Thursday, February 9, 2006
Booming sales tax revenues and rising ridership helped MARTA post an
operating profit for the first six months of its fiscal year.

MARTA had projected to be running a $10 million deficit in its
operating budget at this point, but the transit system is $9 million
in the black for the period that ended Dec. 31.

MARTA officials cheered the news, but they cautioned that the numbers
are only a snapshot and that the financial picture might be far
different by the end of the year.

Ridership has fallen from post-Hurricane Katrina heights, with fare
revenues coming in below projections in November and December. Sales
tax receipts have slipped as well, falling $2 million below
projections for December.

MARTA also has filled several vacant positions that helped salary
costs come in $4 million below projections in the first six months of
the fiscal year.

"You won't see the savings in the last six months you did in the first
six months," Richard McCrillis, MARTA's interim general manager,
recently told its board of directors.

The local economy may be cooling a bit as well, with Delta Air Lines
in bankruptcy and the upcoming closing of the Ford and General Motors
assembly plants. Georgia State University, which provides MARTA's
sales tax revenue projections, recently revised its estimates
downward.

Sales tax proceeds and passenger fares account for about 80 percent of
MARTA's operating revenue.

Davis Allen, MARTA's acting chief financial officer, said he expects
the transit authority to end the year with a deficit, though he
predicted it would be shy of the projected $15 million shortfall.

"We've been getting a handle on our spending for the last two to three
years, and right now you are seeing the fruits of that," Allen said.

MARTA's long-term financial outlook remains grim. Despite rail and bus
service cuts, layoffs, furloughs and other cost-saving moves, the
agency expects to run through its reserve fund in two years and run an
annual operating deficit of $60 million by 2010.

But officials hope the good short-term news resonates with the
Legislature's MARTA oversight committee, which has locked up two bills
that would allow the transit system to shift about $15 million a year
in capital funds to its operations budget.

State law requires MARTA to spend half its revenues on capital
projects, such as new buses or train cars, and half on operations,
such as paying drivers and maintenance workers. The Legislature has
given MARTA permission to spend 55 percent of revenues on operations,
but that waiver is set to expire at the end of this year.

The legislative oversight committee, under Chairwoman Jill Chambers,
has spent the past year investigating --- and criticizing --- MARTA's
spending practices. Chambers has said she won't move the bills out of
her committee until MARTA gets its finances in better shape.

She said she hasn't decided the bills' fate but was glad to hear of
MARTA's six-month surplus. "I think it's great," Chambers said. "It's
a good start to getting them where we need to be. Maybe we can build
these reserves back up."

MARTA'S FISCAL YEAR TO DATE OPERATING REVENUES
............................Actual ........Budget.....Difference
Sales tax..............$78,469,000....$76,226,000.....$2,243,000
Passenger fares........$47,883,000....$46,375,000.....$1,508,000
Station parking ........$1,280,000 ....$1,322,000.......($42,000)
Lease income............$4,436,000 ....$4,337,000 .......$99,000
Federal aid............$18,535,000....$18,535,000.............$0
Other ..................$6,721,000 ....$5,596,000.....$1,125,000
Total ................$157,324,000 ..$152,391,000.....$4,933,000
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MARTA'S FISCAL YEAR TO DATE OPERATING EXPENDITURES
............................Actual ........Budget ....Difference
Salaries ..............$92,774,000....$97,046,000 ....$4,272,000
Benefits ..............$33,496,000....$38,793,000 ....$5,297,000
Contractual services....$7,996,000 ....$8,871,000 ......$875,000
Materials/supplies ....$14,193,000....$14,670,000 ......$477,000
Other ..................$6,993,000 ....$8,121,000 ....$1,128,000
Casualty/liability......$3,271,000 ....$4,490,000 ....$1,219,000
Miscellaneous ............$269,000 ......$670,000 ......$401,000
Other non-operating ......$658,000 ......$855,000 ......$197,000
Total ................$159,650,000 ..$173,516,000....$13,866,000