One of a company CEO's responsibility is to provide the board of directors with a financial plan and proposed budget for the coming year. Last year Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff's 2020 Financial Plan and Proposed Budget consisted of 144 pages and was presented to the board in October 2019.
It projected 2020 revenue and expenditures with the difference coming from cash balances and with comparisons with 2019 budget. The expenditure side included $2.5 billion for system expansion projects and $370 million for the 2020 transit operating budget. The budget summary included a breakdown of Projected 2020 Revenues and Other Financial Sources and Expenses & Outlays and comparisons with previous years.
CEO Rogoff's previous budgets have included extensive details as to where the funds come from and how they will be spent. The problem has been his budget projections for benefits, namely ridership, have been delusional and they've continued Sound Transit's decade long failure to increase parking with access to added bus routes needed to increase transit capacity into Seattle. (He fails to recognize using light rail extensions to replace buses does very little to reduce congestion, it only reduces access for current light rail riders.)
The pandemic-induced downturn anticipating losing between $743 million and $1 billion changed all those budget projections. Rogoff's response was the subject o a June 26 Puget Sound Business Journal article "Sound Transit delays decision on expansion plan while economic outlook is still unclear". It included the following:
"Later this year the agency and board will adjust construction and project development plans through 2021 in order to develop next year's budget."
The next opportunity to respond was the annual 5-year transit development plan Sound Transit was required to provide for public input. This year's TDP, "Transit Development Plan 2020-2025 was released on July 16th with public comment allowed on Sept 3rd. However, rather than making some adjustments for the pandemic the TDP included the proviso, "did NOT reflect the impacts of COVID-19".
The Seattle Times apparently disapproved of the TDP with a Sept 2nd editorial "Speak up on Sound Transit Plans"
"Concerned residents should review and comment on what's in the works. Consider it the start of a vital, regional discussion"
Even the Times, which had spent the last decade abetting Sound Transit policies by refusing to require they be audited, objected to the TDP. Apparently the Sept 3rd public comments were also critical since the TDP was removed from the Internet.
Sound Transit did produce a September 2021 Draft Service Plans detailing operations for Link, Sounder and express bus routes in response to daily ridership falling from 160,000 on March 2nd to 29,500 in August. However, Rogoff still hasn't provided the Capital budget response to the lost revenue.. A Sept 1st Urbanist article "Sound Transit Assesses Budget Damage and Which Projects to Unfreeze" included the following:
"Sound Transit has continued work on how the agency and board will adjust construction and development plans for reduced revenue for projects including Northgate (opening 2021), East Link (2023), Federal way Link (20240, and Lynnwood Link (2024). Those projects seem mostly on schedule."
However, the 2020 budget for the 4 projects totaled $1.765 billion out of a total $2.063 billion System Expansion budget, far exceeding"likely" revenue. It's not clear what the final revenue will be for 2020 or how much will be spent on each of the four projects.
Now it's October and "later in the year". CEO Rogoff needs to produce a "2021 Financial Plan and Proposed Budget that reflects what was spent in 2020 amid pandemic realities. Again his September 2021 Draft Service Plans detail "operations" for the transit modes. He needs to produce plans for anticipated revenue and expenditure for system expansion. In particular how much does he intend to spend on each of the four links and how does that affect their schedules.
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