TransLink needs local government oversight and control to solve its budget issues, according to Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan.
Corrigan spoke to the NOW on Friday, the day after the Metro Vancouver mayors' council passed a resolution reaffirming its opposition to increasing property taxes by an estimated $36 or more per home over the next two years to cover the $30 million still needed to implement TransLink's 2012 Moving Forward Plan.
"There's more pressure on TransLink now," Corrigan said. "TransLink's going to have to make some different choices."
TransLink needs to stop promising costly service upgrades, he added.
"The problem is, they keep promising service to different municipalities, trying to play the municipalities off each other in order to get support for their capital plans and their increases and their operating budget," he said. "And that game is coming to an end."
TransLink commissioner Martin Crilly also released a report last week rejecting TransLink's request to increase fares by 12.5 per cent in 2013, which would have brought in an extra $48 million in revenue.
The report said savings should be found internally instead.
"I think TransLink is putting a brave face on a very damning report," Corrigan said. "It's saying a lot of decisions made have not worked out well and that many of the decisions are purely political, as opposed to being made in the best interests of transit.
"So I think that's caused real calls to review the governance and give TransLink back to the local governments," Corrigan added.
The provincial government has announced it will conduct a thorough audit of TransLink following Crilly's report.
"They think they can audit their way out of this mess," Corrigan said, adding it is the third audit of TransLink in two years.
The mayor is not pleased that the office of Finance Minister Kevin Falcon is conducting the audit, as he was the transportation minister behind the governance restructuring of TransLink five years ago.
"This one is being sent over to the ministry of Kevin Falcon, who is exactly the guy who made the mess," Corrigan said.
The mayors' council would prefer the B.C. Auditor General conduct the audit.
Transportation Minister Blair Lekstrom said his ministry is trying to work with the mayors' council and TransLink to resolve the financial and governance issues.
"I've been working with the mayors' council now for the last year, since I've been serving as the minister of transportation," he said in a phone interview Tuesday. "I think they have raised some points that I agree with, and others obviously that we don't see the same."
Mayors on the mayors' council initially supported an audit, Lekstrom pointed out.
"The mayors said, 'Look, we want a full audit of TransLink before we are going to approve one further single funding allotment for this,'" he said. "That resonated, not only with the public but with government as well."
The government is building the terms of reference for the audit now and expects to complete it in the short term, according to Lekstrom, who estimated it would be "a number of months."
"Hopefully the money that is needed to continue with the Moving Forward supplement, which is a $30-million portion right now, can be found internally," he said.
If it cannot be found, Lekstrom said he would honour his commitment to work with the mayors' council to find funding solutions so they do not have to bring in a shortterm property tax.
"My commitment stands," he said.
In regards to governance concerns, the ministry has offered the mayors' council two seats on TransLink's board, he said.
"I know that some think that isn't enough, but I certainly think that I made very clear from the beginning that going back and blowing up the governance model is not in the cards," Lekstrom said.
Those involved can work on refining the structure, he added, and his ministry is working towards that.
TransLink has been receptive of the audit and the commissioner's report, Lekstrom said.
"I think they would like to be able to look to the public and say, 'Look, we've had this audit done, here's where we can improve and here's what we're doing well,'" he said. "And we should never lose sight of the fact that I think we have a world-class transit system in Metro Vancouver, and what we're looking to do is continue to ensure we can do that for the people that live there."
Crilly's report has laid the foundation for a more in-depth review of certain parts of TransLink, according to Lekstrom.
The report determined that TransLink could find savings of $40 to $60 million for the years 2013 to 2105, which would provide the necessary funding for the Moving Forward Plan.
Savings could be found in areas such as bus system logistics, bus maintenance and overheads, Crilly suggested.
"All savings should be achievable without cutting current or planned services, projects or programs to which TransLink has already committed in its 2012 Moving Forward Plan," a release from the commission stated.
TransLink will be put-ting some of its scheduled expansion plans on hold until it can find funding for them, CEO Ian Jarvis announced on Tuesday.
The Evergreen Line is not one of the projects being postponed.
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