The Chronicle peered in to Muni's financial future this morning and figured out that the beleaguered transit agency needs to "slash $30 million in spending and generate $50 million in new revenue" every year to avoid ending up being $1.6 billion in the red over the next 20 years. That's a lot of years, obviously, but the Muni board and the Supervisors are already mulling various proposals and fees to be put in front of us voters in 2012 in hopes of making up some slack in the budget.
As the Chron explains, consultants have narrowed their choices down to a top-five list that includes a possible sales tax on transportation or treating transportation as a public utility and charging a $60-180 fee per home. Of course only a couple of these will end up on the ballot in 2012, but that doesn't mean we can't pick one to start vehemently opposing already. Even though Muni directors are hard at work on the revenue-generating portion Muni's budget crisis, they have yet to offer any ideas on how to cut that $30 million in spending. That said, it doesn't look good for Muni workers' salaries and benefits which make up some 70% of spending.
