Tulsa Transit anticipates a nearly $1.5 million budget hole by the end of fiscal year 2021.
General Manager Ted Rieck said city and state revenue has remained relatively flat over recent years, but costs keep going up.
"We have to give raises to employees. Fuel goes up in price. We have an older fleet, so we have to pay more for that," Rieck said. "So, just like any family, if you don’t get a raise but your costs keep going up, you’ve got to make some adjustments somewhere."
To deal with the anticipated shortfall, Tulsa Transit will be asking the City of Tulsa for a 2% increase in general revenue funds.
"But we’re anticipating that they may not be able to fund us to the extent that we’re requesting. So, in the meantime, we’ll be developing some contingency plans to balance the budget if we don’t get that funding," Rieck said.
While the city’s financial picture is better, officials are most interested in using additional funds to cover more of its pension obligations.
Potential contingencies include converting Tulsa Transit’s Nightline service into a less-expensive Uber and Lyft subsidy, getting more money out of partnerships with Tulsa Tech or raising fares.
Rieck said there will also be a hard push for additional state funding.
"Perhaps the combination of those will keep service in the street and keep us within our budget," Rieck said.
Tulsa Transit must submit a balanced budget to the city each year. It managed to do so last year while granting union workers a 9% raise, but financial projections for that proved to be slightly off.
Tulsa Transit has been able to move ahead with Aero bus rapid transit service because it is partially funded by Vision sales tax revenue. Vision funding essentially covers the difference in costs between operating the old Peoria Avenue Route 105 and Aero.
