UTA debating where to cut funds

SALT LAKE CITY — UTA is sharpening the budget ax but hasn't decided yet where it will fall.

On Wednesday, the Utah Transit Authority board of trustees approved an operating budget of $181.8 million for next year.

While most of the expenditures have been estimated — for instance, paratransit service will cost about $16.8 million next year — the executive staff needs to cut about $9 million to balance the budget.

"Basically, we're going to make them in three areas: administrative efficiencies, service cuts and labor costs," said Gerry Carpenter, UTA spokesman.

UTA general manager John Inglish and his executive staff will make the cuts in upcoming months and must report them to the trustees.

Last week, UTA announced some cuts to weekend TRAX and bus service, and warned more could be coming next year. The weekend cuts will save about $500,000 annually.

UTA has not announced cuts to its $600,000 incentive pool for 2009 or 2010, Carpenter said. The incentive pool once was $1.2 million but was halved earlier this year amid decreases in sales tax revenue, which provides UTA most of its operating income but is depressed with the recession.

For instance, this time last year, when the trustees were looking at the 2009 budget, the operating budget they approved was almost $200 million. Yet, millions in sales taxes never landed in UTA kitties since residents in the six counties in which UTA operates cut back on spending throughout the year during economic hardship. On Wednesday, trustees approved a projected final budget in 2009 of $179.8 million.

In October, about $6.5 million in budget year 2010 cuts still needed to be made, and between October and this month, UTA number-crunchers discovered sales taxes were yet again lower than October revenues, requiring another $3 million in cuts for next year.

UTA begins its budgeting process at least two years in advance. The 2009 and 2010 budgets were planned before the recession began, and UTA has been adjusting those budgets through cuts since then.

Large reductions in bus or train service require public hearings, which must begin in January if UTA intends to have the cuts begin on its April "Change Day." UTA has a handful of change days each year in which routes are redesigned, added or eliminated. UTA designates certain days as change days for purposes of printing schedules and having bus and train operators bidding on routes based on their seniority.

For administrative efficiencies, UTA is printing 20 percent fewer schedules. For 2010, wages have been frozen. There's a "smart" hiring freeze that makes exceptions for certain needed positions. Employees will be expected to pay larger health insurance premiums.

However, the 2010 budget shows $4.4 million more in sales taxes for UTA than in 2009.

"We think they're going to go up a little in 2010," Carpenter said. "It's based on the state economists' projections, and they do think there's going to be a moderate increase in sales tax revenues."

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