Logjam at the WMATA Board, part 1: The unfair formula

Two weeks ago, the WMATA Board seemed very close to a consensus on the operating budget after Interim GM Sarles took the lead and proposed a new budget. Yesterday, the budget meeting devolved into fractious fighting over parking fees and late-night fares. What happened?

Two things happened. First, the inequitable funding formula penalizes DC for decisions over parking prices that have virtually no effect on DC. And second, the way staff presented the various options created problems by putting proposals on equal footing that had not previously gained consensus.

The other factor is that Fairfax Board members are oddly concerned only with their residents who drive to Metro and not at all with their residents who ride buses to rail.

As Michael explained earlier, fare revenues (except for the maximum fare) aren’t allocated to the jurisdiction where the fares come from. Instead, they’re spread out evenly. WMATA first takes the total costs of Metrorail, subtracts the total revenues, then allocates the difference according to a formula.

But that means if you raise fares in a way that primarily hits residents of, say, Fairfax, DC, Maryland, Arlington, and the others would get the benefit of lower subsidies even though their people aren’t paying. In this case, it’s the opposite. Fairfax and Maryland representatives really want to avoid a parking fee increase, even though all other charges are going up by 15% or more.

Deleting the parking increase from the Sarles budget proposal costs $6.5 million. Allocating that change through the formula, however, would force DC, Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church and Fairfax City to pay more, even though virtually all of the parking facilities are in Fairfax County and Maryland. Understandably, the others, especially DC, don’t want to pay for this.

Peter Benjamin actually said in the meeting that Maryland was happy to pay some extra subsidy. After insisting that they couldn’t come up with any more operating aid and trying to cut the capital budget, the O’Malley Administration has done a complete 180° turn and is now more than happy to pay more. Partly, this is because many swing voters do use the parking facilities. That’s why Fairfax cares so much as well.

If Fairfax and Maryland could lower the parking charges without affecting DC, Arlington, and the others’ costs, it wouldn’t be an issue. That still might be an option, if they can simply treat the parking as a reimbursable item. Fairfax already pledged more money for Metro, and now Maryland is up for it too. They could simply put this directly toward the cost of keeping parking as is.

Alternately, the Board could horse-trade between proposals that Fairfax and Maryland want (the parking) and proposals that DC, Arlington, and Alexandria want. They were getting ready to do just that at the end of the last meeting, but the way proposals were presented threw a monkey wrench into the process. That’ll be the subject of the next installment.