With a budgetary deficit on the horizon and billions of dollars of requests for federal financing still in the air, a committee of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted to move forward with a budget of $ 9.4 billion for the financial year 2026 – an increase of 2% of more than $ 180 million in the previous budget.
During a public budgetary audience Thursday and in written comments, residents cited security as an absolute priority for Metro after a wave of violence against bus operators in recent years, and regular crime reports in and around metro stations and around. The transit agency’s proposal includes more than $ 390 million for public security – an increase of almost 2% compared to the last financial year.
The major part of the budget would go to public transport operations, with nearly $ 3 billion marked for the expansion of rails and buses and more than $ 2 billion for infrastructure planning for projects, including the Bus Corridor Transit bus project and the Rail Corridor Sepulveda project, and the construction of projects that include the extension of the line D to WestSide.
But future financing remains uncertain in questions about how prices and inflation will affect the economy, as well as state and federal investments.
“While we look at major events such as the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympic Games, we know that we will have to make difficult decisions. But we will always use our fundamental values to guide us,” said Metro Finance, Budget and the audit committee, Tim Sandoval on Thursday.
The budget will be presented at Full Metro Board next week.
The agency faced a “deficit of $ 2.3 billion until 2030,” warned Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins, the heads of state earlier this year. In a letter of March to the Senate Pro Tempore Mike McGuire (D-North Coast), the president of the assembly Robert Rivas (D-Hollister), the Senator of the Scott Wiener State (D-San Francisco) and the assembly of the State Jesse Gabriel (D-Ecino), Wiggins, while the transit agency was 90% Pre-pellemic, the number of pre-peinc metro people is still faced with significant financial challenges. It recommended that the State includes a request of $ 2 billion in its budget for fairly distributed transit operations between state agencies.
On Wednesday, the budgetary revision of Governor Governor Gavin Newsom did not include the request, ignoring the militants of public transport and of the safe streets which warned that the absence of these funds could lead to service reductions for a certain number of public transport agencies throughout the state, including Metrolink.
“Public transport is essential for jobs, for the health of our economy, and our objective is to ensure that everyone is able to go where they have to go – from work to school to play – and we think that the state must play a role to insure it,” said Eli Lipmen of Move la. “The operations and maintenance of our system are also essential because the problem n ° 1 for riders is reliability.”
The organization of Lipmen was one of the many banners that hung viaducts on the highway throughout the state, calling Newsom to “finance the transit”.
The State recently continued the Trump administration over its policy to refuse billions of dollars in transport subsidies if California did not follow the plan of the federal government for the application of immigration. LIPMEN supported the action, but said that the prosecution would only affect capital programs and that the State has to further increase funds for public transport operations.
The proposal for the state budget, which is still subject to change, has made a significant revision from January by drawing $ 17.6 million from the State Road Fund towards the Olympic Games and the planning of the Paralympic Games. Funding has distinguished the network of metro game roads, which would designate a series of roads for travel by athletes, media, officials, the International Committee of Olympic Games, Spectators and Workers.
The critical parts of Metro’s Olympic plans have not yet been nailed. The agency has not yet confirmed $ 2 billion in funds to rent nearly 3,000 buses, which are an integral part of the Los Angeles transit target for games. The financial crisis affecting the city of Los Angeles, which has a distinct budget of the metro, could also compromise the plans before 2028, because several public transport and infrastructure agencies are faced with discounts and layoffs.
The senior leader of the Los Angeles Ministry of Transport, for example, warned that discounts would affect the support of the main railway and bus track projects before the 2028 Olympic Games, in addition to the parking, updates and traffic signal objectives to improve traffic safety. The streets and the engineering office – the departments responsible for street repairs and bridges – are also faced with large cuts.
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