Norton Hopes FTA’s Lifting of Financial Restrictions on WMATA for Federal Grants Will Help Ease WMATA’s Financial Woes
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Concerned about the deteriorating finances of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), ranking member of the House Highways and Transit Subcommittee, was relieved by today’s announcement by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) that it will the lift financial restrictions placed on the transit agency for federal grants awarded after July 1, 2015. WMATA has been required to submit all requested federal reimbursements through paper, rather than electronically, restricting WMATA’s ability to receive immediate reimbursements from federal grants. These restrictions were put in place after FTA found serious weaknesses in WMATA’s budget and financial controls. Norton agreed that the restrictions were necessary because WMATA’s financial system needed to be rebuilt, but she took issue with FTA’s failure to ease at least some of the restrictions as WMATA’s financial systems improved significantly and its cash flows weakened. She first called for the restrictions to be eased in November 2015, just before General Manager Paul Wiedefeld assumed his position, and wrote FTA Acting Administrator Therese McMillan in December 2015 asking for changes to FTA’s financial monitoring of WMATA to help relieve the transit agency from dependence on short-term borrowing.
“FTA has undergone a lengthy review process in order to finally relieve the burdensome restrictions that resulted in WMATA engaging in costly short-term borrowing,” Norton said. “FTA’s diligent financial monitoring of WMATA was essential to get the agency into acceptable financial standing with sound budget and financial controls. This exercise has been a costly lesson for WMATA. However, because the resulting costs will ultimately fall to the public, the last thing financially-ailing WMATA needs is the long time it has taken FTA to do its review. Measures that incrementally eased cash flow to WMATA would have encouraged WMATA’s improvements without making the public, and especially riders, pay the added costs.”