On May 27th, the ARC Board approved a transfer of Federal Stimulus funds to temporarily fill a shortfall in MARTA’s operation budget. The funds will be used for preventative maintenance. The action became necessary after the Legislature failed to pass legislation that would have allowed MARTA to spend more of its reserves on operation expenses. Currently, MARTA is required to spend half its money on capital expenditures and half on operations. Currently, there is extra money in the capital account and not enough in the operations account.
By amending the Transportation Improvement Plan, MARTA will spend the money earmarked for capital on improvements to sidewalks and other transportation improvements around stations. The money from ARC will be used to maintain operations.
A list of the amended projects can be found here.