While the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is facing a daunting hole in its upcoming two-year budget, its current financial outlook isn’t getting any prettier.
The SFMTA, which manages Muni, recently adjusted its budget deficit for this fiscal year — which ends on June 30 — from $23 million to $28 million. Based on new figures compiled last month, the agency’s expenditures — $818.6 million — are forecast to far outpace its projected revenue of $790.8 million.
Sonali Bose, the agency’s chief financial officer, issued a familiar refrain when explaining the rise in the SFMTA’s current year deficit.
“We just don’t have enough money to support our current services,” Bose said.
The agency will have to find ways to make up the shortfall before the next fiscal year, when the SFMTA’s budget outlook gets real ugly.
For the next two fiscal years — spanning 2012 through 2014 — the SFMTA is looking at an $80 million shortfall. To reconcile that deficit, the agency is talking about raising traffic citations and increasing meter enforcement hours to include weekday evenings and weekends.
Shortfall
- $28M: Current SFMTA fiscal-year deficit
- $23M: Original fiscal-year deficit estimate
- 22 percent: Increase in size of deficit
- $818M: Total SFMTA budget
Source: SFMTA
