MATA will be up and running through the end of March after Memphis City Council members approved $5 million in funding for the cash-strapped transit authority during a Budget & Audit Committee meeting Tuesday, Feb. 18.
The resolution was part of a larger $12 million effort to shore up bank accounts in various city government agencies. Council members also approved a $7 million funding resolution. The two items had been separated during a Feb. 4 Budget Committee meeting.
During that Feb. 4 meeting, a vote on funding MATA was also postponed and sent to committee after MATA interim leadership failed to provide a financial update to Transportation Committee members. However, MATA brass revealed the agency’s $30 million FY2025 budget is set to run dry at the end of the month. The current fiscal year ends June 30.
The City Council passed a resolution last fall requiring MATA to provide results of a financial audit it requested after the agency ran a $60 million deficit in FY2024. Instead, MATA officials provided a 100-day action plan to right operations.
MATA is currently being managed by an interim team from Tampa-based TransPro Consulting, which Memphis Mayor Paul Young hired after learning of the deficit.
Uptown parking fee approved
Council members also approved an ordinance to create a $50 annual permit for on-street parking along the Uptown community on the first of three votes.
Pitched by council member JB Smiley, the permit would apply along North Main Street between Looney Avenue and Saffarans Avenue.
Uptown contains a mix of single-family residential homes, bordered by a multi-family development to its north. In 2014, similar permits were used to quell disputes between Overton Square area businesses and residents that share Monroe Avenue. The trial run ended after a year once a public garage opened on Cooper Street, directly across from the food and entertainment district.
Fee for vacant properties approved
A proposed $300 fee on blighted and vacant properties unconnected to utilities was also moved along during the afternoon committee meetings.
Proposed by council member Jerri Green, the fee would be tacked onto yearly property tax bills of properties that violate codes. The fee would cover the costs of cleanup, which are currently paid by the city.
Solid waste fees included with utility bills only pay for removal of waste from occupied properties.
The first of three votes is expected during a Budget & Audit Committee meeting on March 18.
