Muni exceeds its budget for overtime
By: Mike Aldax
April 14, 2009
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(Examiner file photo)
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SAN FRANCISCO — An understaffed Muni is still spending too much on overtime.
On Tuesday, the cash-strapped transit agency said employee overtime will significantly exceed what’s budgeted this fiscal year, which ends June 30.
Through Feb. 20, the transit agency paid out $29.6 million in overtime, or about 96 percent of what it had budgeted for payments this fiscal year, according to the latest data.
Muni has increased service in recent years, but has not been able to fill its roster of bus and rail-car drivers, said
Ken McDonald, the transit agency’s chief operating officer.
The Municipal Transportation Agency is short by as many as 135 operators, said chief Nathaniel Ford.
“We just finally got ahead of attrition last quarter,” he said.
To deal with its budget shortfall next fiscal year, Muni is considering reducing bus and rail service and cutting some lines. That would help lessen the demand for operators, and thus the number of overtime hours they work, McDonald said.
