The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority says it may be forced to lay off hundreds of full-time workers to make up for millions of dollars in lost revenue caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to its latest budget update.
The San Francisco Examiner reported Monday that the agency is facing as many as 1,226 layoffs, or about 22% of its workforce, by the end of fiscal year 2022, and many of those jobs could be lost in the current fiscal year that ends next June.
The workers most at risk of being laid off are bus and train operators, maintenance crews and engineers, the Examiner reported.
Despite cost-saving measures such as cutting nearly all overtime hours and not filling about 1,000 open jobs, the SFMTA is reporting a budget deficit of $68 million this fiscal year and $168 million in fiscal 2022, the budget update shows.
The agency also says it has already used $373.8 million in federal CARES Act funding to balance last year's and this year’s budgets.
The budget projections were to be presented to the agency's Board of Directors at its Tuesday meeting, but no action was expected.
A series of workshops and conversations among staff, stakeholders and the board are slated for the coming weeks before directors vote on the budget in early February, the Examiner reported.
