$160 million RTC budget approved

Stephen Curran

Friday, May 20, 2005 | 9:51 a.m.

The Regional Transportation Commission on Thursday approved a $160 million operating budget for 2006, a slight increase from this year.

The board approved the budget, which grew from $136 million this year, 8-0. In it The figures were adjusted slightly from a tentative plan outlined in March that estimated fare box revenues on the agency's CAT bus service would increase 7.8 percent proved too optimistic, RTC chief financial officer Terry Cordell said.

The approved budget, which must now be sent to the state Taxation Department, added 10 new positions and 93 paratransit vans, he said. Another $1.75 million was allocated for a project management consultant who General Manager Jacob Snow said will work as needed in various jobs the would otherwise require more full-time employees.

It's part of an agency-wide belt-tightening needed as budget increases are expected to fall short of growth within the RTC's countywide jurisdiction, Snow said.

"We're looking at doing more work with fewer people," he told the board. "We ask ourselves, is there a way we can do this without adding staff?"

The vote came in a series of fast-moving motions by the board, which also approved a plan to "hedge" its gasoline purchases for the coming year. The price is offered by a broker for RTC fuel contractor Rebel Oil and must be decided by the board within a matter of minutes, as price fluctuates throughout the day.

Hedging fuel buys means commissioners have the option to lock in a specific per-gallon price for a volume purchase in hopes it will remain below rising fuel prices. Commissioners locked in the price for the coming year at $1.42 a gallon, compared with $1.06 in this year's budget.

Cordell in April estimated the price would fall to between $1.35 and $1.40 a gallon this year, as spikes in gas prices nationwide made what experts said was a bargain price last year unlikely. The final figure was based on a national price index largely contingent on how much gasoline commissioners expect to use each month.

The RTC estimates it uses between 400,000 and 500,000 gallons a month.

Gasoline is expected to eat about $9.8 million in the RTC's budget next year, compared with the $8 million budgeted for this year. The hedge plan is largely considered a gamble; if prices rises over the next year, the agency could receive a refund of the different, but if prices fall, the RTC will be locked into the higher prices for the contracted amount of fuel.

The RTC has taken advantage of the voluntary hedging process each of the last three years, each of which have paid off for the county, Cordell has said.

This year, the agency should hope to break even, he told the board.

"I anticipate we won't be brining much money in at all," Cordell said. "I'd be happy if we broke even for the year."