AATA dismisses treasurer's report on countywide millage as inaccurate

Ted Annis, AATA treasurer, isn't happy about a new report from the agency's administration that counters his revenue projections for a countywide plan.

Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com

Ted Annis, treasurer for the agency's governing board, recently issued a report that recommends the agency eliminate the current 2-mill tax that Ann Arbor property owners pay and replace it with a countywide 1-mill tax.

That runs contrary to an idea floated by AATA's administration that calls for layering a new countywide millage on top of the 2-mill tax in Ann Arbor. But even that isn't set in stone.

According to Annis, a flat 1-mill tax spread out across the county could increase the agency's operating revenues by $7.8 million, for a total budget of $33.25 million. He claims another $3.7 million could be realized in operating efficiencies.

AATA's administration now is countering Annis' claims with a response paper that calls the treasurer's figures wildly inaccurate. In fact, it says revenues would decrease - not increase - if Annis' plan were put into effect.

It claims AATA’s budget for providing services in Ann Arbor would be reduced from $25.46 million to $16.46 million if Annis' suggestions were followed, requiring service cuts of up to 35 percent to close the gap.

The report claims reducing the millage in Ann Arbor to 1 mill would result in a loss of $7.6 million that would play out in the form of reduced services inside the city limits. That follows the assumption that nearly $5 million in city tax revenue would disappear and state aid would decrease by $1.2 million. Additionally, passenger revenues would decrease by $1.1 million due to required service cutbacks.

The report also claims Annis' estimations of county fare revenues are $2.17 million too optimistic.

"In summary, the treasurer's plan is highly flawed and would negatively affect the amount and levels of service available to the citizens of Ann Arbor," the report concludes. "The loss of 1.06 mills from the city would be devastating to AATA's services and would result in services being cut back by approximately $7.6 million. Furthermore, reducing AATA's operating budget to $84 per service hour would not only greatly degrade the level of service available to city residents; it would still result in the necessity of cutting an additional $5.24 million in Ann Arbor's transit services." The report states Annis' report ignores the Ann Arbor Transportation Plan Update, a document adopted by the City Council and AATA's governing board earlier this year. It calls for substantial future increases in public transit services in the city and supports the expansion of a commuter rail service between Ann Arbor and Detroit.

Annis said he disagrees with the report's conclusions and thinks the agency's staff is demonstrating a resistance to change that inevitably must happen.

"I think the response from AATA staff was done much too rapidly and without proper deliberation with me or anybody else," Annis said. "Unfortunately, I believe it contains some very serious errors and I don't think it can be believed. The more obvious error is the passenger revenues would decrease by $1.1 million due to less ridership."

CEO Michael Ford said the report prepared by his staff was an attempt to put out accurate information. He said there are talks of having a third party analysis done to settle the dispute between the two reports.

Ford also said he thinks it's premature to be talking about the numbers before the AATA has come up with a countywide service plan that reflects what the community wants out of a countywide transportation authority.

"I just think there's a lot of unknowns right now," he said. "There's a lot more information to come."

Download the AATA's response to Annis' report here. Download another report from AATA staff showing additional detailed calculations here.

Go here to read Ted Annis' report from October.

Ryan J. Stanton covers government for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529.