D.C. is offering Metro millions in aid to help close the transportation agency’s $750 million budget deficit, which could have resulted in dramatic service reductions or cuts across the region.
In a letter to WMATA’s board members and General Manager Randy Clarke, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Council members Charles Allen and Phil Mendelson said the city is offering up to $200 million, on top of its fiscal 2024 operating subsidy. The funds would be used to help close WMATA’s fiscal 2025 budget deficit.
The city’s proposed contribution, combined with proposed funding from Maryland and Virginia, would help WMATA cover $480 million of a $500 million gap, the letter said.
Metro could then avoid major service cuts by closing the rest of the gap with money from the preventive maintenance fund, the letter said. The Metro board may also raise fare prices to bring in more revenue.
The funding would help avoid a series of drastic service cuts that City Administrator Kevin Donahue said would even impact people who don’t use the transit system. If the shortfall wasn’t addressed, Donahue said several stations would close permanently, rail service would stop at 10 p.m., about one-third of bus lines would be cut and more people would likely commute using their cars.
However, as leaders across the D.C. region work to address the current deficit, they’re calling for collaboration on a long-term plan, to avoid having to scramble for WMATA funding every year.
“We need to be candid about the significant financial challenges WMATA will face in FY 2026 and beyond,” the letter said. “This Spring, we must all get back to the table to develop long-term solutions for WMATA’s structural budget gap. The District will not support a two-year budget.”
Once WMATA closes the deficit, the letter said, the transit agency should review staffing at Metro stations and cut costs.
In conversations over the last nine months, Donahue said plans for WMATA funding in fiscal 2025 were connected to “broad recognition that we know we need a long-term solution.”
“It is essential to people who don’t use Metro that we have a safe, reliable, stable transit system,” Donahue told WTOP. “Folks who don’t use Metro really can’t absorb all those individuals who currently take bus and rail getting in their cars and adding cars to the road.”
The funding formula, Mendelson said, is “not working, and it is very unequal between the three jurisdictions.” The letter calls for an updated funding formula that could be used to develop WMATA’s fiscal 2026 budget.
“This is a regional transportation system,” Mendelson said. “It’s important for economic development. It’s important for visitors to the city. It’s important for residents, and it’s important for workers in all three jurisdictions. This has got to get resolved. This meaning both the annual operating shortfall, but also the capital. The capital is approaching a, what we call, ‘funding cliff’ in two years.”
In a post on X, Clarke, the WMATA general manager, thanked Bowser, Mendelson and Allen for the “leadership and significant financial commitment to help prevent WMATA fiscal cliff. WMATA is critical to DC (sic) & the region and this funding is a big step in preventing major service cuts & layoffs.”
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
