CTA: Rauner's Proposed Cuts Deeper Than We Thought
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The draconian cut in state aid to the CTA proposed in Gov. Bruce Rauner's budget might be even bigger than first thought.
CTA President Forrest Claypool said Wednesday that "it looks as if it's higher" than the $105 million initially calculated by the Regional Transportation Authority, with cuts at Pace and Metra totaling another $25 million.
"There's been some confusion about that in the initial numbers that have come out and in what was reported," Claypool said. "So I think it's important just to establish what they're actually proposing, which I think we'll actually know with certainty."
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Claypool said CTA and RTA financial officials were trying to sort it out. RTA spokeswoman Susan Massel said she expected RTA Executive Director Leanne Redden to have definitive figures next week.
No one is willing to say what forms of fare hikes or service cuts were on the table, or being actively considered, with less than a month before the Chicago mayoral runoff election, but Claypool said CTA will continue to work with allies in Springfield to derail the budget cuts.
"We've run out the waste," he said. "We've modernized and brought modern techniques -- management techniques, and technology, and systems -- and that's why we're in the strong financial position that we are. But that should be rewarded, not punished."
CTA reported Wednesday that in January alone, it was running $1.115 million favorable to budget.
WBBM asked Claypool if this means a return to "doomsday" scenarios that were frequent under predecessors for more than a decade.
"We've worked very hard for four years to eliminate doomsdays from the CTA lexicon," he said. Pressed about it, he said, "Look. This is a long way off before we get to this point."
But he said it was "short-sighted" for the Rauner administration to "try to throw a monkey wrench" for producing what "Gov. Rauner says he wants, which is efficient, effective government."
Claypool said CTA would double down on its efforts to pry more money out of Springfield.
"We are working with Metra. We are working with Pace. We are working with the RTA," he said. "We are working with businesses and unions and others that understand that transit is a job creator and a revenue creator. It should be one of the last places you would look to attack in a budget process."
