CAGLE IS 100% WRONG ABOUT THIS. Not one single penny of tax payer dollars have been lost on bad investments. In fact, without investments in Transit Oriented Developed and Asset Lease Backs MARTA would have been broke years earlier. He probably got this misinformation from Rep. Jill Chambers (R-Dunwoody).

Cagle: ‘We’re about to see what can happen when MARTA has to cut days of service’

3:02 pm April 6, 2009, by Jim Galloway

Imagine the Atlanta Braves — knock on wood — still in the hunt come September, when MARTA says it could be implementing cuts to service.

Perhaps eliminating rail and bus service on Friday. Imagine the headlines.

“We’re about to see what can happen when MARTA has to cut down the days of service…they are providing,” Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle said Monday at the Atlanta Press Club.

Two days after the close of the 2009 legislative session, Cagle made what must be considered his first speech of the 2010 race for governor.

He preferred to talk about taxes — and his dedication to adding as few of them as possible. And confirmed that his chief of staff had sent a memo to office staffers warning them to expect up to five furlough days in the coming year.

But the topic of transportation was unavoidable.

The failure of the General Assembly to pass a sales tax to fund more roads and rail made the biggest splash.

“We were certainly disappointed in that,” Cagle said, predicting talks with House Speaker Glenn Richardson and Gov. Sonny Perdue this summer to reach a consensus.

But the most important untied shoelace of the session may have been the failure of S.B. 120, a bill that would have given MARTA complete access to funds raised by the Fulton-DeKalb county sales tax for the transit system.

State law currently prevents MARTA from using more than 50 percent of the cash for operating expenses. The remainder must go toward capital improvements.

The bill passed the Senate. The House declined to act.

MARTA General Manager Beverly Scott warned that the transit agency would undergo severe cuts without access to the extra cash — even as some state lawmakers assumed that she was overstating the situation.

“It’s Armageddon,” said Scott after the session ended without passage on S.B. 120. “That’s what it is. My board’s going to have some very difficult decisions in front of them.”

Cuts could include cessation of service, probably on Fridays, possibly starting in September.

“That could be hurtful,” Cagle admitted to reporters after his Press Club speech.

Asked whether a special session of the Legislature would be required to address the matter, Cagle said he hoped not — but that it’s not his call.

“That would be up to the governor to make that determination,” the lieutenant governor said. “I would hope that we can find other ways to remedy this issue.”

Cagle said MARTA’s situation was partly self-made because of some faulty investments. But the lieutenant governor said he did recognize the significance of the dilemma.

“MARTA is a vital part of what gets done in metro Atlanta, particularly with tourism and the convention business,” he said.