MTA Plans Layoffs and Cuts in Projects

Faced with a capital and operating shortfall of nearly $300 million next year, the county Metropolitan Transportation Authority will eliminate about 250 positions--triggering perhaps 200 layoffs--in coming months and scale back some of its transit projects, officials announced Tuesday.

Together, the cuts are expected to shave $100 million from the combined deficit--enough to make a dent in the daunting task of balancing the agency’s $3.4-billion budget, but not enough to prevent further cost-cutting measures in the fiscal year beginning July 1, including possible reductions in bus service and increases in fares.

“We have no alternative but to make hard, painful decisions because of the projected operating shortfall we face this year and next,” said Franklin E. White, the MTA’s chief executive officer.

Bus service, which accounts for nearly 90% of the MTA’s operating budget, will not be affected by the cuts announced Tuesday, White said. Among the cost-cutting measures is the closure of a bus depot in Pomona, to be consolidated with a facility in El Monte.

“There’s nothing here that will change the level of bus service,” he said. “On the other hand . . . there will be a point down the road where I expect the (MTA) board to make reductions in our bus service.”

The board of directors next week is expected to schedule a public hearing for the end of April to discuss fare increases and service reductions on the MTA’s vast network of bus and rail lines.

Although only one-fourth of the $100 million will be saved through reducing operating costs, officials said the lion’s share of layoffs will come from the agency’s operations unit, including transportation supervisors, schedule checkers and other support staff. About 230 positions are to be eliminated.

The agency plans to eliminate 20 jobs in the planning and programming unit. However, programming cuts, along with the staff reductions in that unit, should result in capital and operating savings of $63 million.

It was unclear which of the MTA’s many projects would be most affected by the new round of cutbacks. But officials said the Red Line subway system and the Green Line light-rail project would not be touched. The extension of the Blue Line train to Pasadena was dealt a blow last year when officials decided to delay the project for financial reasons.

Tuesday’s announcement of reductions in the MTA’s 9,100-person staff comes less than six months after the MTA slashed 246 positions in its opening round of cost-cutting measures.

Most of the positions cut last October were in administration, where scores of jobs were considered superfluous after the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission and the Rapid Transit District merged to create one super-agency. However, there were no layoffs because of a voluntary buyout program.

This time, as many as 200 employees could lose their jobs as officials begin deciding next month which positions to jettison. The remaining slots are vacant because of a hiring freeze imposed in January.

“We hope to impact the lowest number of employees possible,” White said.

As for the agency’s bus operation, an outside audit released last month recommended cutbacks in weekend service and along routes running parallel to trolley and subway lines.

The audit also recommended that the MTA slash salaries and benefits of thousands of employees, certain to be a flash point issue during negotiations scheduled to get under way soon between the agency and its three major unions, including those representing bus drivers and mechanics.

MTA Director Mel Wilson said the agency must look at the operating side and capital expenditures to bridge the budget gaps--about $126 million in the operating budget and $170 million in the capital budget.

“We’re going to have to take a look at the projects we have on line,” he said. “We will this week be revisiting our long-range plan.”

But another high-ranking MTA official who asked not to be identified said the operations unit had already borne its share of cutbacks, and suggested that the planning and programming unit should come under greater scrutiny.

“It’s nowhere near aggressive enough,” he said of the effort to slash 20 planning and programming positions.