More to the MARTA saga...
Atlanta Business Chronicle - by Dave Williams Staff Writer
Officials from Fulton and DeKalb counties don’t want the state taking over MARTA without some financial guarantees.
A joint transportation committee made up of Fulton and DeKalb county commissioners agreed Thursday to bring a resolution before their full commissions opposing a state takeover of MARTA’s governing board without a commitment to ensure the long-term viability of the transit system and protect the two counties’ financial investments.
“We’ve put in a lot of money over the years,” DeKalb County Commissioner Lee May said. “We should get some kind of credit.”
Georgia Rep. Fran Millar, R-Dunwoody, said recently that he plans to introduce legislation this winter creating a public transportation division inside the Georgia Department of Transportation that would operate public transit systems across the state, including MARTA.
Millar cited operating shortfalls that have hit MARTA severely during the current recession and threaten to continue for at least the next several years.
MARTA is the largest transit system in the country that doesn’t receive financial support from its state government, forcing it to rely on a 1 percent sales tax levied by Fulton and DeKalb and the city of Atlanta.
While MARTA has been using reserves to plug its budget gaps for the last decade, the agency’s finances are “unsustainable” long term, General Manager Beverly Scott told the joint transportation committee Thursday.
Millar warned that MARTA will go bankrupt without a broader source of funding. He said the agency’s plight is too serious for commissioners to be quibbling about financial restitution.
“The people who actually use the system don’t care who owns it as long as it’s reliable,” he said.
The two county commissions are expected to vote on the resolution within the next month.
A joint transportation committee made up of Fulton and DeKalb county commissioners agreed Thursday to bring a resolution before their full commissions opposing a state takeover of MARTA’s governing board without a commitment to ensure the long-term viability of the transit system and protect the two counties’ financial investments.
“We’ve put in a lot of money over the years,” DeKalb County Commissioner Lee May said. “We should get some kind of credit.”
Georgia Rep. Fran Millar, R-Dunwoody, said recently that he plans to introduce legislation this winter creating a public transportation division inside the Georgia Department of Transportation that would operate public transit systems across the state, including MARTA.
Millar cited operating shortfalls that have hit MARTA severely during the current recession and threaten to continue for at least the next several years.
MARTA is the largest transit system in the country that doesn’t receive financial support from its state government, forcing it to rely on a 1 percent sales tax levied by Fulton and DeKalb and the city of Atlanta.
While MARTA has been using reserves to plug its budget gaps for the last decade, the agency’s finances are “unsustainable” long term, General Manager Beverly Scott told the joint transportation committee Thursday.
Millar warned that MARTA will go bankrupt without a broader source of funding. He said the agency’s plight is too serious for commissioners to be quibbling about financial restitution.
“The people who actually use the system don’t care who owns it as long as it’s reliable,” he said.
The two county commissions are expected to vote on the resolution within the next month.
