(The following article by Larry King was posted on the Philadelphia Inquirer website on June 23.)
PHILADELPHIA — As expected, SEPTA’s board approved an operating budget yesterday with a projected $50.3 million deficit, but with no immediate plans for fare hikes or service cuts.
All of which was by design.
SEPTA officials hope a state commission Gov. Rendell appointed will recommend a dedicated funding source for state transit systems this fall. If state legislators approved it, the additional money would keep SEPTA and other cash-strapped authorities afloat without having to worry riders with threats of soaring fares or slashed routes.
The commission’s final report is due the week after the November elections, but SEPTA officials hope to get a preliminary read on the panel’s intentions before then.
Whether a sneak peek happens “is going to be up to the commission,” SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney said after the unanimous vote.
Either way, SEPTA officials will have to start making contingency plans in the fall. The earliest that state legislators could vote on a financial bailout would be during the lame-duck session after the election.
SEPTA’s $991 million operating budget is a 4 percent increase over fiscal year 2006. Most of the increases have been in wages, fuel costs and health care plans.
SEPTA officials have said that higher fares and reduced service are inevitable if a reliable state funding source is not found.
At least one member of Rendell’s Transportation Funding and Reform Commission, State Rep. Keith McCall (D., Carbon), has said he doubted that any transit funding proposals would be dealt with until a new legislature takes office in January.
Another, House Transportation Committee Chairman Richard Geist (R., Blair), said SEPTA would be well-advised to put out its contingency plan now because a state bailout may not happen.
“They should publish a realistic plan of what they plan to raise in fares and what they plan to cut to keep the system going,” Geist said yesterday. “We have these deficit budgets constantly, and it always seems to be, ‘Don’t worry, Harrisburg will bail us out.'”
SEPTA spokesman Maloney said a funding decision by the lame-duck legislature would give SEPTA about six weeks to rework its budget for the second half of its fiscal year, which runs from July through June.
The budget that was passed yesterday, Maloney said, “is sufficient to get us through the calendar year.”