BART'S Board Adopts Balanced Budget for Fiscal Year 2005; Board Closes $41.5 Million Shortfall without Fare Increases or Service Cuts.News Editors OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 27, 2004 After a third year of significant revenue reductions, BART's Board of Directors today closed a projected $41.5 million dollar shortfall and adopted a balanced budget Balanced budget A budget in which the income equals expenditure. See: budget. balanced budget A budget in which the expenditures incurred during a given period are matched by revenues. of $475.2 million for Fiscal Year 2005, which begins July 1. The Board fulfilled ful·fill also ful·fil tr.v. ful·filled, ful·fill·ing, ful·fills also ful·fils 1. To bring into actuality; effect: fulfilled their promises. 2. its commitment to balancing the budget without raising fares, reducing service frequency or compromising safety. "I'm extremely pleased that we were able to balance this budget with minimal impact to our customers' overall experience," said BART General Manager Thomas E. Margro. "This budget preserves both the frequency of service riders currently enjoy and the number of trains in operation. Best of all, our riders will not have to worry about a fare increase," Margro said. The Board also took careful steps to minimize the impact on the customer experience. While there may be some impacts to station cleanliness Cleanliness See also Orderliness. Cleverness (See CUNNING.) Berchta unkempt herself, demands cleanliness from others, especially children. [Ger. Folklore: Leach, 137] cat continually “washes” itself. , other areas should see improvements such as train cleanliness and reliability. Still, the Board did have to make some tough choices, which included a $20.4 million reduction in operating expenses Operating expenses The amount paid for asset maintenance or the cost of doing business, excluding depreciation. Earnings are distributed after operating expenses are deducted. primarily through the elimination of 143 operating positions. "Our first commitment was to eliminate open positions," Margro said. "Of the 143 positions, 101 are vacant. So, the actual number of layoffs totals 42." However, the Board did ask the unions to consider several management suggestions that would avoid any layoffs. The remainder of the cost savings was achieved through a combination of one-time money transfers, reductions to the capital budget and by carefully tailoring train sizes to match ridership rid·er·ship n. The number of passengers who ride a public transport system. demand. The adopted budget does reflect the recent agreement reached between BART and SamTrans over the new San Mateo San Mateo (săn mətā`ō), city (1990 pop. 85,486), San Mateo co., W Calif., on San Francisco Bay; inc. 1894. It is a commercial and retail center with some high-technology manufacturing. San Mateo, Spanish for St. County extension but does not include the Governor's proposed $9.1 million cut to BART's property tax revenues. The Board plans to address any revenue reduction issues after the State Legislature A state legislature may refer to a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. The following legislatures exist in the following political subdivisions: |
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