Last evening, the RTD Board initiated the 2009 Budget Preparation Process.  As a charge to my fellow Board members, I offered the following thoughts:

Tonight we embark on the long process for pulling together RTD’s 2009 budget.  We know the budget preparation process is always difficult, balancing competing priorities in an effort to best serve the public’s transit needs.  However, there is reason to believe that we will face many more challenges in preparing the 2009 budget.

 

The record-breaking rise in gas prices, alone, is putting an enormous pinch on our resources.  It is not surprising, either, that rising gas prices have increased public demand for our transit services.  Ridership on the RTD system has never been higher, both because we are providing a comfortable and convenient travel alternative, and because citizens are recognizing that transit is a much more affordable commute option.  This increased demand, though, has further stretched RTD’s budget resources. 

 

What else?  I could go on about the flagging sales tax revenues and escalating construction costs, but you get the picture.  We have an enormous job ahead of us as we confront the 2009 budget.

 

Fortunately, this is also a year that all of us said we wanted to take a different approach to formulating the RTD budget.  At our Board retreat, many of you expressed concern about the inability to affect budget policy at the front-end of the process.  Instead, it seemed we were always relegated to making less substantive tweaks at the back end of the process.  It is very difficult to institute significant policy change when staring at the fine print of the thick budget document and a tight approval deadline.

 

That is why, working with staff, we have made substantial changes to the budget preparation process.  The emphasis, this year, will be in two primary areas:  1) Transparency and openness; and, 2) Board input at the front-end of the process. 

 

This is a significant paradigm shift and it begins tonight.  Staff will walk us through the mysterious black box where they blend the cost assumptions and operation policies to arrive at the draft budget documents we review every year.  It is critical that we all understand, along with the public, how these elements work together so we know how best to influence the outcome. 

 

Down the road, we have scheduled greater opportunities for input on each of the budget policy elements and to challenge financial assumptions.  Early-on, as well, is when each of us is encouraged to advocate for the specific initiatives and services we want staff to consider as it prepares the preliminary budget documents.  This includes everything from the type of buses RTD purchases to a new route in your district. 

 

Again, these are not simple times for RTD.  We are facing significant financial hurdles.  But, I know each of you joins me in the goal of providing the most effective and efficient transit service to our customers and working to protect the promise of FasTracks.  I am confident that the approach we are taking to the 2009 budget preparation process will help us to achieve these goals while upholding our fiduciary responsibilities to RTD and the public. 

 

Let’s get at it!