By Adam Allington, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – The St. Louis transit agency Metro says that it faces an $8 million shortfall in next year's budget.
That means there may have to be fare increases and/or bus and light rail service cuts. Metro President and CEO Bob Baer says the agency needs to find a new source of dedicated funds to balance it's budget.
He says one strong option is a half-cent sales tax in St. Louis County, "The reality is we can't do anything like that. That would be up to the local governments to do. Now obviously, we would encourage that, we would support that in every way that we can legally, and we hope they do something like that, yes."
Critics of service cuts or fee hikes complained to the Metro board today, saying that bus routes -- which many poor and low income riders rely on - should not be the first to be cut.
A series of public hearings will be held to discuss the budget shortfall.