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6/14/2023
The Orange County Transportation Authority in California and the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority have approved new budgets for the coming fiscal year.
OCTA’s $1.7 billion budget for FY2023-24 — which begins July 1 — is $48 million higher last year’s fiscal budget, OCTA officials said in a press release. By comparison, the FY2022-23 budget rose by 30% after two years of budget cuts due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the agency.
OCTA's FY2024 budget anticipates a moderate increase in sales tax receipts that help fund transit and other transportation improvements funded by the Measure M half-cent sales tax.
About 52% of the budget makes “significant investments in public transit" and makes upgrades to the county’s freeways and streets, OCTA officials said. Projects include continuing to support Metrolink passenger-rail service at 90% of pre-pandemic levels; advancing planning studies for longer-term solutions to protect the coastal rail line and advancing completion of the OC Streetcar project.
Meanwhile, MARTA adopted a $1.6 billion budget for FY2024, which includes $712.4 million in gross operating funds and $854.5 million for capital programming.
The budget supports resumption of prepandemic service levels as ridership demand increases, especially during off-peak times. Carry-over cash reserves and sales tax revenue from which MARTA derives a portion of its operating budget “[put] the authority in a strong financial position to deliver pre-COVID service levels and make improvements systemwide,” MARTA officials said in a press release.
In the capital budget, nearly $60 million is reserved for the procurement of new rail cars; $50 million will be spent on rail station rehabilitation; $20 million will fund elevator and escalator rehab projects; and $7 million will go toward rail-station deep cleaning.