|
|
 |
|
|
|
SamTrans > News Archive > SamTrans Directors Vote on BART Subsidy
SamTrans Directors Vote on BART Subsidy
SamTrans directors voted unanimously today to condition an $8.9 million payment for
SFO Extension operating costs on immediate action by BART to adjust service and take
steps to end the need for a subsidy after the current fiscal year.
The board vote came despite a threat yesterday by BART to sue for funds it claims
SamTrans owes for the San Mateo County extension, which opened in June of 2003.
Board Chair Mike Nevin said that SamTrans directors agreed to a conditional payment
despite the fact that "our board believe more strongly than ever that BART has not
fulfilled all of its contractual obligations."
At issue is a provision in the BART/SamTrans Comprehensive Agreement that the
extension must be operated without resorting to subsidies. Ridership and revenues,
however, have been running far below projections, and SamTrans General Manager
Michael J. Scanlon warned BART officials as early as last fall that invoices for the
operation were exceeding his district's start-up budget for service on the extension.
In a January letter to BART General Manager Tom Margro, Scanlon insisted that the
partners "meet promptly so that an operating plan resulting in the required surplus
is in place by the beginning of the next fiscal year, July 1, 2004."
Nevin, in a letter to BART President James Fang conveying today's action by SamTrans,
charged that BART "has not acted as a true partner in addressing issues of cost
containment that we raised long before operations actually began last June."
Citing subsidies of nearly $7 million paid to date by SamTrans for SFO service, Nevin
was particularly critical of BART's threatened court action.
"If it is your view and that of your colleagues," he told Fang, "that a threat of
litigation via a process of public grandstanding is conducive to the resolution of
the serious issues that divide us, you are sorely mistaken. Regrettably, BART seems
to have found a new low water mark in terms of statesmanship."
The Board's conditional payment offer of some $10 million responds to BART's
contention that SamTrans owes $11 million in 2003-04 operating subsidies. Excluded in
the SamTrans offer is a pro-rated portion of a $2.5 million annual increment to
retire SFO debt service on construction of airport improvements. A capital cost,
from the SamTrans perspective, the airport payment is BART's responsibility.
The issue of back debts, Nevin reminded his counterpart at BART, cuts two ways. BART
owes SamTrans more than $10 million advanced to assist in cash flowing construction
of the SFO extension, a debt accumulating over four years of unanswered invoices at
a cost to SamTrans of some $1.3 million in lost interest earnings.
"Accordingly," Nevin informed BART's Fang, "we seek from BART a definitive repayment
plan to reimburse SamTrans in full for the amounts we have advanced on BART's
behalf."
"Lawsuits rarely, if ever, provide enduring solutions to disputes between public
agencies," Nevin observed. If BART agrees to abide by its contractual obligation to
address service levels and cost containment, he said, "we will immediately issue a
check in payment of operating costs."
"On the other hand," he warned the BART Board, "if you decide to pursue the
litigation forum instead, you also can be assured we will meet you there with
conviction and fervor."
|
|
|
|
Schedules & Fares