MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis Area Transit Authority leaders asked city council Tuesday for $45 million, saying the city’s proposed budget allocation could have negative effects on the transit system for years to come.
The city’s current budget passed June 10 gives MATA $30 million.
Emily Greer, chair of the new MATA board of commissioners installed last year, said that won’t be enough to maintain baseline service.
“Thirty million dollars is, at best, a Band-Aid on a system that needs emergency surgery. We implore you to reconsider your allocation and increase it to $45 million,” she told city council members.
Greer said on most routes, buses come every one to two hours on weekdays. They are already denying 300 MATA Plus trips for disabled riders a month because they don’t have enough vehicles.
At $30 million, MATA won’t be able to bring back the historic trolleys to Main Street. They also won’t be able to repay $7.5 million to vendors that are 90 days or more past due.
That could lead to more debt down the road, Greer said.
However, with an allocation of $45 million from the city, Greer said MATA could increase the number of buses and operators from 54 to 73, which will increase route frequency.
The agency could add MATA Plus rides, return trolleys to Main Street, pay overdue vendor bills, and attract a new CEO, Greer said.
“We hear you that this is a belt-tightening year. But this cannot be a belt-tightening year for MATA,” Greer said. “If you do that, at $30 million, this will stop our ability to offer any positive change at MATA, and it will have negative ramifications, possibly for years to come.”
City Chief Financial Officer Walter Person said the city did not have an extra $15 million available. It may need to come from federal funding or other sources like public-private partnerships.
Council member Jeff Warren said the trolley was important to downtown convention center business, and buses were important to get people to work.
But while there was interest from council members, the money was not available.
“Right now, we don’t have the budget where we have the $15 million I would like to give you,” Warren said.
Council member Janika White said she was disappointed that MATA, which now has a leader employed by transit consultant Transpro, has not presented a plan that does more than maintain service.
“At some point I would like to see a transformational plan, because nothing that I see here fixes the things that I’ve heard are the issue,” White said.
Council members have said they want to see more accountability from the transit agency, which is facing a $60 million budget hole and accusations of misspending.
MATA board officials showed the city council where they were cutting costs, including reducing travel by $100,000.
MATA’s Interim CEO John Lewis said the agency was committed to living within its budget, even if that remained at $30 million this year.
MATA and council members agreed to go over the agency’s budget at a future meeting.