MTA betting more ticket writing to ease deficit TRANSIT

A parking citation on the windshield of a vehicle in the financial district on Thursday November 10, 2011 in San Francisco, Ca. The Municipal Transportation Agency is facing a $34 million deficit for next year and a $46 million deificit for the next year. Ideas to help erase that gap include charging riders who pay cash fares an extra 25 cents, and another 25 cents on top of that if they use a transfer. Also being considered is making drivers pay $3 more for parking fines and having parking meters fed on Sundays and later into the evenings and the idea to tack another $3 onto parking penalties was broached briefly over the summer and then shelved in the months leading up to the Tuesday mayoral election. less A parking citation on the windshield of a vehicle in the financial district on Thursday November 10, 2011 in San Francisco, Ca. The Municipal Transportation Agency is facing a $34 million deficit for next year ... more Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close MTA betting more ticket writing to ease deficit 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

The new fiscal year doesn't even begin until July 1, but the Municipal Transportation Agency's budget for the next two years is already in the red. And the city plans to issue more parking tickets to help close that deficit.

The agency, which controls Muni, parking and traffic, faces a $19.8 million deficit over the next two years due in large part to labor negotiations that failed to yield the concessions that had been projected when the budget was passed in April. Instead of wringing $14.6 million in savings out of five unions representing maintenance, clerical and management workers, the agency will spend about $3 million over two years.

In addition, the agency has tacked on $2.3 million more in expenses due to not budgeting enough money for the staff of the Transit Effectiveness Program, which aims to improve Muni service, and decisions to add taxi enforcement and parking enforcement officers.

While those positions add to the MTA's costs, the agency is counting on them to bring in new revenues. The new parking control officers are expected to help the agency issue an additional $6.5 million in citations over the next two years.

Ed Reiskin, the city's transportation director, said the new officers would target drivers who park illegally in areas with residential parking permits and other places where the agency gets complaints about a lack of enforcement.

"Everybody benefits when we enforce existing laws, including motorists," he said, acknowledging there will be complaints about the agency picking on drivers.

Taxi enforcement officers are expected to bring in about $4 million over two years by cracking down on illegal taxi and limousine operators, something taxi drivers have advocated for years.

Another $5.9 million will come from the city's general fund, which is generating more revenue than expected as the economy recovers. Some small changes in work orders and assignments will also save the agency $3.4 million.

Reiskin has championed the two-year budget as one that places a top priority on maintaining and improving the condition of Muni's vehicles and infrastructure, and said the budget adjustments preserve that strategy.

The MTA board adopted a two-year operating budget on April 17, calling for it to spend $821 million in the budget year that starts July 1 and $841 million in the following fiscal year. The City Charter requires the agency to submit an approved budget to the Board of Supervisors by May 1.

Reiskin will present the revised budget to the agency's Board of Directors on Tuesday, and it could face a second review by the supervisors' Budget Committee before it's implemented July 1. The supervisors have until Aug. 1 to approve the budget or reject it in its entirety and send it back to the agency.

One lingering issue in the budget is the MTA's plan to offer free Muni rides for low-income youths, a program championed by the Board of Supervisors and reluctantly approved by the agency's board. The agency was counting on $5 million in regional funds from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to help pay for the program but the chances of getting that money seem increasingly uncertain. Should that funding fall through, Reiskin said, it's unlikely the MTA board would move ahead with the program, which it hopes to start in August.

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