An ongoing audit of King County Metro Transit has been expanded by the King County Council to examine the agency’s management and operations, in order to find the most efficient way to keep the most buses on the street in the face of a projected $223 million budget shortfall.



“Every dollar of savings we find in Metro’s budget is another dollar’s worth of bus service we can keep available for King County citizens,” said Council member Larry Phillips, co-sponsor of the motion. “With Metro facing a $100 million shortfall next year, it’s critical that we get the results of this audit and make the recommended efficiencies prior to adopting the 2010 budget this fall.”

“In the face of budget shortfalls, we must run transit with the highest efficiency possible,” said Council member Reagan Dunn, chair of the council’s government accountability and oversight committee. “Tough decisions must be made if necessary to provide optimal transit services to the taxpayers who rely on it.”

In the midst of a spike in fuel costs and a downturn in the economy that led to a sharp drop in the sales tax revenues that support public transit, the council set aside funds in November to expand a service efficiency audit of Metro to a division-wide performance audit of Metro’s management and operations. The expanded audit is aimed at finding the best allocation of resources to continue delivery of the 3.4 million hours of bus service Metro now provides every year.

Since the start of the audit last June, Metro is now facing a projected $223 million shortfall in its 2010-2011 biennial budget due to the decline in sales tax revenues, which support 61 percent of Metro’s budget.

The motion adopted by the council authorizes expansion of a contract with Booz Allen Hamilton for up to $600,000 to work with the in-house efforts of the King County Auditor’s Office to ensure that the results of the audit will be available to the council and the county executive prior to submission of the 2010 Executive Proposed Budget in September.