The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency may have to lay off nearly a quarter of its staff to shore up its projected budget deficit during the next fiscal year if the agency doesn’t receive federal relief funding, agency officials said this week.
The SFMTA is currently on pace for a $68 million deficit by the end of the 2020-21 fiscal year, with revenue down 12.7% since the fiscal year began July 1 as San Francisco residents avoid public transit during the coronavirus pandemic.
The agency has also exhausted many of its one-time tools to save money such as implementing a hiring freeze, reducing overtime and utilizing federal funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.
Even so, SFMTA Senior Budget Manager Jonathan Rewers told the agency’s Board of Directors Tuesday, the agency’s actual and projected revenue losses are so great that reductions in service and layoffs are fully on the table as a method of cutting expenditures.
The SFMTA’s current revenue projections for fiscal year 2022 show a net deficit of $168 million, even when accounting for financial savings like continuing the agency’s hiring freeze. Without more federal funding, according to Rewers, the agency would need to lay off between 989 and 1,226 full-time employees — equivalent to 18% to 22% of its staff — to make up the projected deficit.
While the board did not take action Tuesday to remedy the projected deficits, its members did discuss potential furloughs in lieu of layoffs as a possible tool to help reduce revenue.
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