$30M is ‘Band-Aid on a system that needs emergency surgery,’ MATA chair said
Memphis Area Transit Authority board members Emily Greer (left) and Maya Siggers attend a meeting Oct. 22, 2024. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)
The Memphis Area Transit Authority board delivered a $30 million budget Tuesday, June 24, to the Memphis City Council that is a “status quo” of limited service on 54 routes.
MATA board chairwoman Emily Greer also said the bus system needs more city funding to the tune of $45 million annually. And it needs the additional money soon.
“Thirty million dollars is at best a Band-Aid on a system that needs emergency surgery,” Greer said during council committee sessions.
The City Council passed its fiscal year 2026 budget June 10. It includes $30 million in city funding for MATA, down from $35.6 million in fiscal year 2025, which ends June 30.
Fiscal 2025 saw a shake-up of the city's public transportation agency, including Mayor Paul Young firing the MATA board en masse and replacing it with the current appointed board. The city also fired acting CEO Bacarra Mauldin and hired the transit consulting firm TransPro; John Lewis of TransPro is MATA’s acting CEO.
“We hear you that it’s a belt-tightening year for the city,” Greer told council members. “But this cannot be a belt-tightening year for MATA. If you do that at $30 million, this will stop our ability to offer any positive changes at MATA. And it will have negative ramifications possibly for years to come.”
City Chief Financial Officer Walter Person said the administration should have a more accurate picture of city revenues in September. But he also cautioned that the administration is looking for better revenue results to fund other areas of city government.
He also ruled out using the city’s “fund balance,” also known as reserve or rainy day funds, to boost MATA’s budget.
This is a copy of the Memphis Area Transit Authority’s presentation. Click on the magnifying glass to read more.
Council member Dr. Jeff Warren wants to see options for MATA improvements with smaller increments of increased funding.
“Right now we are looking at a budget where we don’t have the additional $15 million I would want to give you,” he said. “We don’t know what we have coming in yet. And we were going to look at this again in September.”
Some council members also want to see a “transformational” plan for interim MATA service as the city basically rebuilds the bus system.
Council member Janika White said the status quo budget presented Tuesday doesn’t match the goals of Transpro’s 100-day plan for MATA.
“If we had $15 million additional, is it just for the same old status quo?” she asked Lewis and Greer. “I thought when we got TransPro in it was supposed to be transformational. At some point I would like to see a transformational plan because nothing I’ve seen here fixes the issues.”
Council member Chase Carlisle called the report “underwhelming.”
“I wouldn’t walk into a board room with this presentation if my life depended on it,” he said to Lewis. “If we did, I would fire you.”
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City Council Memphis Area Transit Authority TransPro Consultants LLC Subscriber OnlyAre you enjoying your subscription?
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Bill Dries
Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for almost 50 years covering a wide variety of stories from the 1977 death of Elvis Presley and the 1978 police and fire strikes to numerous political campaigns, every county mayor and every Memphis Mayor starting with Wyeth Chandler.
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