According to the MRT, it seems EZ Rider is $170,000 in the hole, and guess who they want to bail them out, you guessed it, the Taxpayers of Midland and Odessa.

In a rare episode of fiscal conservatism, Councilman John James held the line on the City's Contribution:

Esparza suggested asking the cities of Midland and Odessa to increase their contributions of $235,000 each, but Midland City Councilman John James shook his head to say no, that isn't feasible in this year of budgetary constraints.

Now, they say the issue is overtime and scheduling. This isn't new. According to the Odessa American, they were having this problem in 2008 because of low local unemployment. Either some Board Members need to be replaced or the General Manager needs to be canned if they can't get a handle on overtime repeatedly busting their budget.

I forget, we are talking the government. Poor performance in the realm of budgets doesn't always get you canned. Maybe everyone was waiting on the $3,949,578 in Stimulus Funds which is going to be used on "Bus, Amenities, Scheduling purchases" to fix the schedules and prevent all this overtime they haven't been able to trim for a couple of years now.

I do have to take a issue with the statement from TxDOT because it doesn't stack up with the figures from the National Transit Database:

Ex-officio bus board member Alfredo Gonzales of the Texas Department of Transportation said state funding "is formula driven," having been lowered from $500,000 to $446,000 last year because the cities had reduced their support from $250,000 each. The district gets most of its funding from the Federal Transit Administration.

FY 2009 isn't on the FTA's site, but the City of Midland's 2009 and 2010 budgets each allocate $235,000 for their half of EZ Rider, so I'm not seeing where TxDOT gets off saying the Cities reduced their support from $250,000 each, they have never provided $250,000 each, and what they did provide has stayed the same. However, as you can see from above TxDOT has been scaling back their payments for two years now. (Source: Where the Money Goes TxDOT Site).

That $60,000 cut in state funds doesn't cover the mismanagement of overtime, but TxDOT has no business telling the taxpayers of Midland and Odessa their Councils have "cut" local funding and that is the reason the TxDOT formula is providing less money, the numbers (and the State's 5% mandatory agency budget cuts this year) don't support that statement.

Which leads into the point I have been making ever since I posted my first analysis of EZ Rider on the Well:

How long will EZ Rider stay in operation if the State and Federal Monies that comprise the lion's share of the "operating revenue" drop and the Cities have to significantly increase their share to keep EZ Rider operating?

Councilman James has the first reaction, but I guess we're going to find out pretty quickly.

Update: First a word about the contributions from each City. Midland's budget and CAFR clearly show the amount given to EZ Rider from the general budget. Odessa's budget lumps the EZ Rider payment into a line item that includes all their required matching funds for all their federal grants. Basically, I couldn't find a source to show Odessa's contribution, thus the italics. I say this because the paper is reporting that Odessa gave $250,000 last year. So, they add $15,000 in 2009 and TxDOT cuts $6,000. In 2010 they take that $15,000 back and TxDOT cuts another $50,000.

Second, it seems the General Manager is being moved on in the McDonald Transit structure. So you could say a head was shuffled for all the red ink.