RTD committee advances $8.1 million operating budget increase

The Regional Transportation District’s Finance and Planning Committee voted 5-2 on Sept. 15 to advance an $8.1 million increase to the agency’s 2026 operating budget, raising operating appropriations to about $1.121 billion. The committee also unanimously advanced a five-year financial forecast and a $3.4 million transfer to speed purchases of network routers and modems, according to the committee’s meeting minutes. The measures were advanced for full Board consideration, not adopted by the Board.

A September forecast prepared after the committee’s vote projects $5.041 billion in sales and use tax revenue from 2027 through 2031, $58 million, or 1.2%, above the March estimate of $4.983 billion. The updated figures are in materials for the committee’s scheduled Oct. 13 meeting. The forecast puts the 2027 baseline at about $939.8 million, up $34 million, or 3.8%, from March, the September forecast memo and report say.

For 2027, the report’s baseline assumes 4.1% growth in total sales and use tax revenue from 2026. Its alternative scenarios project 5.7% growth, to about $956 million, in the optimistic case, and a 1.4% decline, to about $883.9 million, in the pessimistic case. These are scenario projections, not a confidence interval.

The budget amendment’s largest listed increases include $6.7 million in previously approved budget transfers, $6.5 million for commuter-rail purchased transportation under a concession agreement and $2.3 million to restore the general manager and CEO’s unallocated expense budget to $5 million. It also reduces the 2025 expense carryforward by $4.3 million and security spending by $3 million, according to RTD’s budget amendment staff report. The detailed appropriation table gives the net increase as $8.114 million.

The amendment raises projected 2026 revenue by $27.429 million, including $20.175 million more in sales and use tax, $2.654 million more in passenger fares and $4.6 million more in grants and other contributions. The staff report attributes the changes to current trends and execution of a $9 million Clean Transit Enterprise grant agreement.

The amendment would shift $16 million from the Southwest Corridor Curves project to East Colfax Bus Rapid Transit to help buy 47 articulated buses. It also would reduce new capital expenditures by $15.4 million, increase the 2025 capital carryforward by $16.7 million and increase the operating reserve by $6.4 million. The districtwide amended budget, including capital and other funds, would total about $2.573 billion.

The $3.4 million router and modem transfer would move up a 2027 purchase of 1,495 mobile routers and 250 modems for buses, FlexRide and paratransit vehicles. RTD staff estimate that buying the equipment at 2026 prices would avoid about $2.5 million in projected semiconductor-related price increases. The transfer would draw on the general manager and CEO’s contingency expense budget and the unrestricted fund as needed.

Directors Michael Guzman and JoyAnn Ruscha opposed the budget amendment.