Tag: Bacarra Mauldin

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City Council Questions MATA’s Transparency During Presentation

Photo: Justin Fox Burks

Memphis City Councilwoman Yolanda Cooper-Sutton said that the Memphis Area Transit Authority’s (MATA) interim CEO Bacarra Mauldin had been “gifted an issue” and criticized the agency for not asking for help in their budget crisis. 

These comments came after officials noted that the agency had been operating in an unrestricted budget deficit for the last 10 years.

“To hear that this is a 10-year-long thing that you all have known about — that you didn’t have enough money and never said anything to anyone is very disturbing,” Cooper-Sutton said. “I don’t think you would run your household for 10 years and no one would say anything.”

Cooper-Sutton went on to call out the organization’s Board of Commissioners for not speaking up as well, and that they should share in accountability for the agency’s financial burdens.

“No one knew there was a deficiency coming down the pipeline? No one?” Cooper-Sutton said. “I’m going to tell you what my spirit is discerning — someone is lying and not telling the truth. You’re not going to tell me that the educated board with all those alphabets behind their name that no one knew and saw this coming for 10 years? It’s unbelievable.”

Mauldin responded saying she remembers being two doors down from her predecessor and had no idea that the agency was facing financial hardship.

“The board didn’t know,” Mauldin said. “From the moment that we gave full visibility over what was happening with the finances, I shared that information with the board and we have as governance partners to try to right this ship. I know that it’s unbelievable, I know that it’s unacceptable but we have done everything in our power to bring this in-line so that we could provide the service this city needs and deserves.”

Today’s meeting follows the passage of the transit authority’s budget for Fiscal Year 2025 which resulted in more than 200 layoffs and the suspension of routes. Riders and community members have openly called on the council to intervene in the agency’s problems. The council had also requested that MATA appear before them every two weeks to provide updates in hopes of increasing transparency. 

Mauldin said that her team was “beaten down” and that all they want is to make things right.

“Our goal is to develop a robust transit system that positions Memphis to compete nationally,” Mauldin said. “The city deserves that and we want to give it to the city. We’re committed to providing insights and context necessary to be a part of the solution and help drive the city towards a successful future.”

MATA’s presentation covered their financials, staff optimization, and the steps they plan to take moving forward. Mauldin was joined by external chief financial officer Hamish Davidson, chief of strategic partnerships and programs Erik Stevenson, and chief development officer John Lancaster.

Davidson highlighted that MATAs debt has grown over time due to increased costs and a decrease in ridership and flat funding. He added that the budget affects on-time performance and they are currently operating at a $85 million budget, with a proposed balanced budget of $67.8 million.

“This is not something that occurred in one year,” Davidson said. “This is something that has been continuing for many years.”

According to Davidson, this is something that the media and others had been “lambasting” the agency about, and wanted to note that their deficit wasn’t an annual loss.

The approved budget shows that a majority of MATA’s funding comes through grant revenue ($64 million) with the City of Memphis being its primary funding source at $30 million. The rest of their budget is supplemented by their operating revenue of $3.7 million from passenger fares, advertising, and charters.

Councilwoman Pearl Eva Walker noted that the council’s assessment of MATA’s  troubles stemmed from lack of on-going information and updates, as opposed to understanding of finances.

In hopes of adding context to the operational side, Lancaster explained that their problems also stem from their density and size of their service area. MATA covers nearly 300 square miles with a fleet of less than 100 buses. For comparison, Lancaster said they operated more than 300 buses in a little over 100 square miles in the 1970s.

Stevenson said they had to reduce their workforce in order to stay in line with their budget. As a result 18 trolley workers, 29 administrative personnel, and 52 unionized personnel were laid off with 75 eliminated positions.

While the agency presented a PowerPoint in hopes of providing answers, the council was still not pleased with their presentation, prompting several questions and comments from council members. Walker noted that the presentation was very “general.”

Councilwoman Rhonda Logan questioned if employee perks such as employee vehicles had been reduced as the company works to cut down on spending. Mauldin said she would provide the council with a detailed list of these things, including the context in which they exist.  

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Public Still Unhappy With MATA’s Transparency After Public Meeting

Photo: Justin Fox Burks

While the city of Memphis has allocated $30 million to Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) for fiscal year 2025 (FY25), questions remain regarding the organization’s $60 million deficit.

During the June 2024 MATA Board of Commissioner meeting on Wednesday, several members of the public expressed their concern for the deficit. Prior to the meeting, organizations such as Citizens for Better Service and Memphis Bus Riders Union said they were unhappy with the organization’s previous ways of addressing the issue.

“MATA owes the city of Memphis, especially bus riders, an explanation of how it is going to solve the deficit without hurting bus riders,” Johnnie Mosley, founding chairman of Citizens for Better Service, said.

These comments came after MATA administration presented their budget proposal earlier this month to the Memphis City Council for consideration.

During the meeting, the transportation agency did not directly address the deficit. Instead, MATA said they were committed to increasing revenue and “refining [their] process of spending.” At the board meeting, MATA interim CEO Bacarra Mauldin said the council would be “more involved” with all organizations and agencies receiving money from the city. 

Mauldin also said, with the city being their primary funding source, they want to make sure they are being as “transparent” as possible.

Shelby County government has allocated $1.2 million towards MATA for FY25, which Mauldin said is “consistent with where they’ve been for the past few years.” She noted that while it may seem like a small amount, their consideration in the budget means there is still the “opportunity to move forward.”

As the city has wrapped up its budget season, Mauldin said she is focused on building relationships with county commissioners and administration to procure a “higher level of funding” in the future.

“We know that the money that we have from the city of Memphis as well as Shelby County will not plug the entire hole,” Mauldin said. “We’re going to continue to work with those funding partners, but in addition we’re going to look into some other ways to get funding to close that gap. Most importantly, we’re going to look in the mirror and we’re going to tighten our own belts, and we’re going to spend smarter on the right things at the right time.”

She added that they are putting safeguards in place in order to ensure they’re being “good stewards of all the taxpayer’s money.”

Hamish Davidson of J.S. Held LLC has been retained by the organization as an external CFO and presented on “financial controls” during the board meeting. Davidson remarked that finance is “an area where if you don’t have the proper controls then your finance department can leak like a sieve.” To prevent this, Davidson said they are working to “spend smarter” and make sure they know where every dollar is spent.

Davidson said they currently have an understanding of MATA’s “historical processes and procedures” as well as their accounting systems. They also have gained the trust of employees.

However, he said they still need to identify their risk profiles and “current and future state of their budget and headcount,” and “determine the appropriate controls, reporting, and policies necessary.”

“A lot of these processes need to be updated,” Davidson said. “They’re totally out of date and more importantly they also need to be followed to the letter.”

Davidson said when he was retained in February, he thought they would be “long finished” by now in addressing these things, but he said it’s been put on the back burner due to more “pressing issues” related to MATA’s financials such as preparing the budget for FY25.

He said over the next few weeks they could create a timetable to present to MATA’s Board of Commissioners.

Close to the end of the meeting, the board opened the floor for public comment. They noted that this portion was for receiving comments and that they would not engage in a “spirited debate.”

Some participants made comments about bad service from both the agency and bus drivers; however, most complaints were about the agency’s finances.

Joe Kent of the Taxpayer Justice Institute criticized the agency for saying they lead with transparency when he said they are “anything but transparent.”

“If you want to collaborate with the public you need to answer questions,” Kent said. “How are you operating with a negative $10.1 million in cash? I just don’t understand that.”

Another participant suggested that the organization was “being investigated and some indictments were coming down.”

The board said that while they were not going to go back and forth with participants, they would follow up with them individually.

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MATA Reports Improvements In Ridership, Community Engagement

Photo: Justin Fox Burks

Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) leaders reported improvements across many of its service lines to Memphis City Council members Tuesday.

Bacarra Mauldin, MATA’s interim CEO, told the council’s Transportation Committee that ridership and usage was up on trollies, buses, and the agency’s on-demand system. Mauldin was appointed on February 1, 2024 following the retirement of Gary Rosenfeld.

When Mauldin stepped into the role the agency was “fresh from the rejection” of their controversial proposed winter service changes. Mauldin said their biggest challenges were unreliable services and buses, and “strained relationship with community advocates.”

However, recent changes helped to push total ridership over 2 million recently, she said, with a significant number of those on MATA’s traditional bus services, The most popular routes to date are the 36-Lamar, 50- Poplar, and 42- Crosstown. These numbers are reported from year-to-date.

More than 36,000 hopped a trolley last month, Mauldin said. Much of that improvement came from a partnership with Renasant Convention Center.

“They really help us advertise and promote our services when conventions come to town,” she said. “We get a lot of additional ridership on our trolleys during those instances.”

Mauldin said Groove On-Demand, MATA’s “Uber-ish” car service system, rose to over 100,000 bookings so far this year. That service allows citizens to call a car for access to Downtown, the Medical District, South City, and New Chicago.

Mauldin said MATA is also listening to customers and community organizations. In the last 80 days MATA leaders met with members of the Bus Riders Union, Citizens for Better Service, and Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope (MICAH). 

“As a result, we renewed our joint commitment to work and make transit better for all riders,” Mauldin said. “Advocate and adversary don’t have to be the same. We all want better transit, and we can do more if we all work together.”

To further improve transit in the Mid-South, Mauldin said MATA met with union leadership “early.” She said they do not have a contract yet, but wanted to let council members know that this was a priority.

The agency has also added eight new buses that are in service to their “fixed route bus fleet,” and has secured 29 used buses to aid in reliability and efficiency. 

“Hallelujah!” council member Jana Swearengen-Washington said at the conclusion of the presentation . “Our emails of concerns and phone calls have just been drastically reduced. We appreciate your team and all that you’re doing.”