The MBTA says it hasn’t ruled out any cost-saving measures in the face of a new $32 million drop in projected sales tax revenue this week — including layoffs.
“As we seek to close what’s a $100-plus million deficit this year, everything’s on the table. Seventy-five percent of our costs are wages and benefits so that’s a core area of focus for us,” MBTA Chief Administrator Brian Shortsleeve told reporters, according to State House News Service. Officials who crafted next year’s budget hoped that higher sales tax revenues — a portion of which are reserved for T costs by statute — would help close a roughly $80 million budget deficit and help wean the agency off of state bailouts. “Everything’s on the table. We’re going department by department, particularly in the corporate departments, identifying areas where we can streamline, we can run more efficiently,” Shortsleeve said. The agency is also considering further privatization of other services, such as cash-handling, fare-machine maintenance and warehouse operations, according to the report.
‘Everything’s on the table’ as MBTA attempts to deal with 9-figure deficit
Nicolaus Czarnecki, Metro
