WMATA instituted it’s largest ever fare hike, costing Metro riders at least $.30 more per trip.  The excuse this time is “to close a $189 million budget gap for the fiscal year.”  This was the same excuse used when Metro proposed an emergancy $.10 fare hike.

On June 10, 2010, the WMATA Board approved the FY2011 budget. From the FY2010 budget, there was a $189 million shortfall.  The changes to the FY2010 budget were as follows:

• Medical and Safety initiatives: $1 million
• Safety recommendations: $6 million
• Eliminate 1% pay increase for non-union employees: ($1 million) (emphasis added)
• Departmental reductions: ($6 million)

And here’s what WMATA did to try to close the gap (figures in the millions):

• Additional departmental reductions: $16
• MetroAccess Service: $9
• Fare Increases: $108 (emphasis added)
• Borrowing Preventive Maintenance: $30 (emphasis added)

As of April 2010 (the latest budgetary review available), 16.9% of the budget has been used for “services” and “supplies”, both of which are not defined.  So that 16.9% is being overly generious.  My initial entry showed that WMATA spent 77.6% of their budget on salaries and benefits.  As of April 2010, this number is 70.8% of their budget, still higher than the health care secture, which demands 52% of the budget on average.

Note that no increases were eliminted for union employees.  As of this writing, I could not find the current union contract for WMATA.  The only one available expired June 30, 2008.

Instead of reducing salaries, which is where WMATA is bleeding the most, they instead increased fares and “borrowed” $30 million from their preventive maintenance reserves.  My question is if they had $30 million to borrow, why wasn’t that money used to actually prevent maintenance on the aging system?

Over the past two weeks, WMATA has experiences several problems: one major security oversight where someone was able to walk onto a MetroBus parking lot, steal a bus, and then crash into a tree.  A few days ago, smoke billowed out of the Dupont Circle Metro Station when one of the escalators stopped working.  Lastly, a MetroAccess driver was arrested for sexually assaulting a passenger.

It’s clear that safety is NOT a top priority for WMATA.  The numbers make this obvious.  They care more about pleasing the ATU and their members than repairing the system.  The problem with a union controlling a transit system is that it doesn’t matter how many people ride.  If they don’t get enough money, they’ll complain to the government, who in turn will provide more funding, which will go to the union employees and not to repairs.  Then something will break, the transit system will say it needs money to make things safer to increase fares.  Then people will stop riding, causing the system to not get enough money and round and round it goes.

Dear Mr. Soh,

This responds to your request for a fee waiver relating to your Public Access to Records Policy (PARP) request for copies of the report that shows how much was paid to WMATA’s bus drivers, Metro train operators, maintenance personnel, and any other position that is unionized for the last five years.  You requested that we include how long the employee has worked for Metro and how long the employee has held their current position including both current and previously employed individuals.

Pursuant to PARP § 8.1, fees are charged for record search, review, and duplication when records are sought for commercial use.  However, fees are limited to charges for copying when records are not sought for commercial use or the request is made by a representative of the news media.  PARP §§ 8.1, 8.2.  PARP § 8.4 further provides that “documents shall be furnished without charge or at a charge reduced below the fees established in §§ 8.1 and 8.2, if WMATA determines that the disclosure of the information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to the public understanding of the operations of WMATA and is not primarily in the interest of the requester.”

WMATA has reviewed your email, dated April 2, 2010, where you provided information for us to determine whether you are eligible for a fee waiver.  You note that your intended use of the records is non-commercial, that you intend to use the data to accurately determine whether employees of WMATA are paid within market standards, and plan on releasing the records on your personal website.  Although your response suggests that you do not have a commercial interest in the records, we have denied your request for a waiver because merely posting records on a web site is not enough to meet the standards of disseminating the information to the public widely, Judicial Watch, Inc. v. United States Dept. of Justice, 185 F.Supp. 2d 54, 59 (D.D.C. 2002), or in a way for the public to understand the operations of WMATA.  See Brown v. United States Patent and Trademark Office, 445 F.Supp. 2d 1358, 1359  (M.D. Fla. 2006).  Wage rates are set through the collective bargaining process and not through individual WMATA managers.  Furthermore, information regarding wage rates regarding union employees are published on our website and can be viewed at http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/docs/local_689_050104-063008.pdf.  For all of these reasons, we have denied your request for a fee waiver.

We estimate that it would cost $208.00 for  5 hours of staff time to retrieve and review the records that you requested for exempt material.  We do not anticipate a fee for copying charges because the data will be provided electronically.  Please confirm via email whether you agree to pay the fee associated with processing your request by May 28, 2010.  If we do not receive your agreement to pay the fees by May 28, we will close your request file.

Sincerely,

Keysia A. Thom

I believe getting these records will be important especially in light of the fact that WMATA plans to increase fares AGAIN. The proposed increases will be the largest in the system’s history.

I would like your help in raising the money needed to get this request filled.  I’ve set up a Paypal page where you can donate money to help off-set this cost.  While I could appeal the decision to charge me, it would cause a delay in the release of the records.  I’m asking people to donate at least $2 because the fees Paypal charges make any less amount pointless.

As soon as I receive the data, I’ll make it available on this site for immediate download.  Once I finish my analysis, I’ll post the results.

I expect the data by the end of next week.

The public needs to know where this money is going before any additional fare hikes are enacted.  I’m okay with a fare hike IF AND ONLY IF the AFL-CIO isn’t bullying for more money.

As a result of this, I sent WMATA’s legal counsel a Public Access to Records Policy request, which is similar to a Freedom of Information Act request.

Here is the e-mail I received this morning:

Dear Mr. Soh:

This acknowledges receipt of your request for a copy of the report that shows how much was paid to WMATA’s bus drivers, Metro train operators, maintenance personnel, and any other position that is unionized for the last five years.  You requested that we include how long the employee has worked for Metro and how long the employee has held their current position including both current and previously employed individuals. This also requires that you provide additional information so we can determine whether you are eligible for a fee waiver by April 16, 2010, we will provide an estimate of the costs to retrieve the records and review them for exempt material.  Your request is being processed pursuant to the Public Access to Records Policy (PARP), which can be viewed on our website at http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/public_rr.cfm, under the section marked, ALegal Affairs.@  Generally, we aim to issue decisions on a request for records within 20 working days after the date of receipt of the request.

Although we cannot yet provide you with any documents, I can impart some general information now:

Exemptions to Disclosure

Under the PARP, certain types of records are exempted from disclosure. The exemptions include: records that could compromise WMATA’s infrastructure or security; records containing proprietary data; intra- and inter-agency advice and memoranda; records of internal deliberations; certain records compiled for law enforcement purposes; and records which if released would cause an unwarranted invasion of privacy.  WMATA’s response will not include any exempt information.

FeesOur PARP provides for the assessment of fees associated with your request if it takes more than two hours of staff time to search for, assemble and review the records that you requested. This fee shall be calculated at the employees’ basic rate of pay, plus an additional 50% to cover benefits, for the time spent responding to this request.  Also, there is a 15 cents per page copying fee beyond the first 100 pages.  Generally, a request is considered an agreement to pay all applicable fees.

We note that you requested a fee waiver because you are making this request as a private citizen and you believe the disclosure of these records is in the public’s best interest and will help citizens understand the true cost of employing the fine people who are responsible for getting them to work.  Pursuant to section 8.4 of the PARP, WMATA will furnish records without charge or at a reduced charge if:

WMATA determines that the disclosure of the information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations of WMATA and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the Requester.

We note that your request does not sufficiently establish that you are entitled to a fee waiver under the PARP.  To better assess whether you are entitled to a fee waiver, we require further information from you.  Thus, please respond to the following questions:

1. Describe the purpose for your request of these records, and your intended use of them,
2. Explain how disclosure of these records will significantly further the public’s understanding of the operations or activities of the Authority,
3. Describe how you intend to disseminate these records to the public, and how broad an audience you anticipate the disclosure will receive,
4. If your request is on behalf of an organization, describe that organization, including its expertise in matters associated with these records and how your organization is actively involved in disseminating information to the public, and
5. Describe any commercial or profit interest that you or your organization has in these records, and how this commercial interest, if any, compares to the public interest described by your previous answers.

After considering your responses, we will inform you in writing of our decision on this portion of your request for a fee waiver.  If we do not receive your response by April 16, we will provide an estimate of the cost to process your request and request an agreement for you to pay the fees.

Sincerely,

Keysia A. Thom
[REDACTED Address & Phone Number]

And here is my response:

Ms. Thom:

Thank you so much for your reply to my PARP request.  I appreciate you taking the time to provide me the information I need to make my request.

I have noticed over the past two years that WMATA has consistently raised rates without improving service.  While WMATA has encouraged rider input, I believe there is a large part of the story that the public is not hearing, which is the wages earned by employees.

According to your FY2008 Financial report available on the WMATA web site, more than 75% if it’s expenditures went to salaries.  After some research, I found that this percentage is extraordinarily high.  In order for the public to have a better picture of why these salaries are so high, they must be provided with the information I have requested to accurately determine if those salaries are above average.

According to my research, the industry with the highest salary to expenditures ratio is the health care industry, which is 52%.  The public should be able to examine what their fares and taxes are being used to pay for.  In light of the many accidents that have plagued WMATA in the last year, I found that it only categorized 13% of it’s expenditures supplies and only 3% for preventative maintenance.

Once received, I plan on using the information to accurately determine if the employees of WMATA are paid within market standards.  I plan on releasing this information on my personal website.  After my analysis, I will provide my summary as well as the raw data on my web site.  My website is licensed under the Creative Commons Share-Alike, Non-Commercial license.  The raw data that you will provide, however, will be released into the public domain since it is available publicly.

I do not consider myself a journalist: just a concerned citizen.  I do not anticipate any sort profit from the release of these records.  I do not advertise on my site or charge a fee to read my material.

I consider these records important to the discussion of the state of WMATA fares.  If you cannot waive my fee under your guidelines, please provide me an estimate of the cost if it exceeds $100.  Please keep in mind that I will not accept any hard copies.  Please provide the information in a spreadsheet or database format.

Thank you again for your time in this matter.  I believed I have answered your questions in detail.  Please let me know if there is any more information you require.  I look forward to receiving your reply within 20 days of your receipt of this message.

Very respectfully,

Michael Soh

Although my web site is public, I did not mention my hypothesis.  If she really wants to know what I’m after, she can visit my web site (which I gave her).  My theory still stands: I believe AFL-CIO has a unfair union hold over the WMATA system and their workers are paid well over market value at the expense of safety improvements.

• Jan 6, 2008: Fare are increased for the first time since 2004.  The average increase is about $0.50
• Jun 28, 2009: Bus fares are increased by $0.10 on average
• Feb 28, 2010: Fares are “temporarily increased” by $0.10 on average

There are other fares that were increased but were not included.  Service was also trimmed several times in the last two years.

WMATA, unlike most other subway systems, does not have any dedicated funding from local governments.  Ignoring the fact that they get money from the federal, VA, MD, and DC government every year, the fact is that there is no law saying that these agencies will fund WMATA.  WMATA likes to bring this up every so often to remind people that this is why cuts must be made and fares should increase.

I say bull.

WMATA is what most people call a private-public partnership.  While technically, they are their own “company”, they are still managed by the rules and laws that are passed by the various jurisdictions.  Now, you may be saying the fare increases are not a lot of money.  And in many ways, I’d agree with you.  What this boils down to is transparency.  Is WMATA really strapped for cash?  Is that why they cannot afford to upgrade its oldest 1000-series cars, which were responsible in the June  2009 crash?

WMATA has yet to release their actual expenditures for 2009.  When they do, I will update my spreadsheet.  In the mean time, below, you’ll see the actual expenditures for 2008 in a nifty chart format:

The chart was made in Google Docs.

Anyway, salaries and benefits (the blue) made up 77.6% of their budget.  That’s a lot.  According to the Society of Human Resource Management, the sector with the highest salary to operating expenses percentage is the health care services, coming in at 52%.  Within health care, there are a lot of specialties, many of which command very large salaries.  But most of WMATA’s jobs are not that specialized.

It is my belief and contention that the Amalgamated Transit Union (part of the AFL-CIO, which is pretty much a mafia-like force that controls most of the government) has negotiated rather large salaries for its members at the expense of the safety of the public.  If the graph above does not say it, maybe the following will.

So a couple of days ago, I drafted a letter to WMATA’s Office of the General Counsel.  Even though WMATA isn’t an official government agency, they have something similar to the Freedom of Information Act called the Public Access to Records Policy.  PARP is modeled after the FOIA in many ways, but with a few restrictions.

My request to WMATA for Salaries –

If approved, I will share my findings here on my web site.  What I find sad is that it takes a private citizen to report this, not the Washington Post.  The liberal toilet paper has proven that it either is a willing participant in allowing unions control the government work force or is being bullied in not covering union-defacing news.  But, no matter.  Individual blogs like mine are showing that we have the uncanny ability to uncover news that the mainstream news outlets either refuse or choose ignore.