Post editorial decries O’Malley “pushing [WMATA] downhill”

An editorial in today’s Washington Post warns that the O’Malley Administration’s withdrawal of capital support is putting Metro “on a slippery slope.”

[Th]e $1.46 billion budget that Mr. Sarles has proposed for the fiscal year starting in July would meet current maintenance needs partly by raiding $30 million from the pot of money that’s supposed to pay for upgraded trains, buses, equipment and facilities.

Granted, that’s just 5 percent of annual capital spending. But for a transit agency whose infrastructure is as aging and accident-prone as Metro’s, it’s a foolish move and creates a budgetary hole that will be difficult to fill in the future.

Mr. Sarles was apparently led to this budgetary gimmickry mainly by foot-dragging by one of Metro’s funding partners, the state of Maryland. Virginia and the District have indicated that they’re prepared to find additional funds so that Metro needn’t raid its capital budget. … It’s troubling that Maryland won’t dig slightly deeper to safeguard Metro’s future. …

It’s equally disturbing that Maryland appears to be edging away from its promise to meet Metro’s long-term infrastructure needs, which are estimated at $11 billion over the next decade. … In its latest projections, Metro slashed its capital budget for the next six years by almost 10 percent, to about $4.6 billion, making it increasingly unlikely that it will reach the 10-year, $11 billion target for modernizing the system.

Metro, sorry to say, is on a slippery slope, and Maryland is pushing it downhill.