Memphis City Council members postponed a vote on a resolution to temporarily fund MATA operations, after the debt-ridden transit authority’s leadership failed to provide financial data during a Transportation Committee update Tuesday, Feb. 4.
The agency’s $30 million FY2025 budget is set to run dry at the end of the month. The current fiscal year does not end until June 30. The $5 million funding resolution was sent back to committee without a favorable recommendation.
A resolution was approved in the fall that requires MATA to provide the results of a financial audit to the City Council. Council members requested the investigation after the agency ran a $60 million deficit in FY2024. Instead, MATA officials provided a 100-day action plan to right operations.
“Our resolution says that MATA is to submit financials and budget information, not a PowerPoint with nice bullet points,” said council member Jerri Green.
The lack of insight prevents informed decision making. Without financials, council members are caught between a rock and a hard place. MATA brass and city officials are asking council members to “trust the process.” Meanwhile, the other option is to let the transit system go bust.
“I can’t see into the financials to know if we should fund that, or if we should just start over. I agree, public transportation needs to be funded,” said Green.
Members agreed to her request to separate MATA funding from a larger spending bill during a later Budget Committee meeting. They are expected to bring the stand-alone resolution up again during the next scheduled meeting Feb. 18.
Council members are trying to prevent emergency funding resolutions, which occurred on several occasions in FY2024, as former Mayor Jim Strickland’s administration was set to expire.
“We have been trying to get this information since last year in budget,” said Green. “It feels very similar to when we were told, well we’re not going to be able to pay the firefighters if you don’t agree to this $10 million. We’re not going to be able to pay the police officers unless you agree to this $15 million.”
Current administration officials also said they haven’t seen the numbers. Neither have MATA board members or MATA’s interim leadership team, for that matter.
In a shake up, Memphis Mayor Paul Young appointed nine new members to the MATA Board of Commissioners in October 2024. He also hired consultants from Tampa-based TransPro Consulting as the agency’s leadership on an interim basis.
“We’ll show you the books when we get the books, and we get that opportunity to look at it and understand it,” said City of Memphis CFO Antonio Adams. “I cannot tell you if we will come back every month, or, if we come back, how much we’ll ask for.”
An outdated MATA information technology system was blamed for the lack of data. A forensic analysis is currently trying to “reconstruct” the agency’s financial information. The lack of a chief financial officer was also blamed. The position has remained vacant for more than two years.
As the discussion was winding down, council member Edmund Ford Sr. cautioned members to keep MATA’s problems within the city government. He expressed concerns about seeking outside funding from a hostile Tennessee legislature, along with the federal government.
President Donald Trump’s administration is currently engaged in wholesale slashing of federal agency budgets. Thousands of government workers have also been laid off since Inauguration Day, Jan. 20.
“You all, please leave the federal government and the state alone. Don’t nobody like West Tennessee. Never have, never will,” said Ford. “These are not the times for messing up, especially with this new administration. We need as much money as we can get. So please, don’t you all go up there and start talking crazy to the governor’s office or federal government right now.”
During the Transportation Committee update, council members learned that MATA shortcomings also extend to its aging, broken down fleet. On an average day, 56 buses are needed to fulfill the agency’s fixed route schedule. During Tuesday’s discussion, only 46 buses were available. The 20% fleet deficit was a stroke of luck. Over the past few months, the average has been 30%.
“That schedule that we put out for our customers is a contract that we make with the public,” said interim MATA CEO John Lewis. “If our vehicles aren’t available for service, we are breaking that contract each and every day.”
