MARTA CEO defends transit agency before Atlanta City Council following audit findings

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — The Atlanta City Council on Wednesday peppered MARTA CEO Collie Greenwood with questions about an audit that found the transit agency owes a city expansion program $70 million.

“Out of mutual respect, I have to say I’m a little disappointed today,” said Byron Amos, chairman of the Atlanta City Council’s Transportation Committee.

Amos said he was disappointed that Greenwood was unable to provide more clarity on the audit findings.

Last Monday, the City of Atlanta released the results of an independent audit of the Atlanta More MARTA sales tax program.

The program was approved by voters in 2016 and is intended to use taxpayer money to fund projects such as new train stations or bus rapid transit systems.

However, the audit says MARTA often dipped into that pool for its day-to-day operations and that the expansion program now “must pay out approximately $70 million.”

MARTA leaders refuted the findings in a statement after the audit was released.

Greenwood also defended the transit agency on Wednesday.

“There was no misconduct, no irregularities, no fatal flaws, no corruption, none of that. So we should start by acknowledging that,” Greenwood told the committee on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Atlanta News First requested an on-camera interview with Greenwood. MARTA declined.

Greenwood described the financial discrepancy as similar to withdrawing funds from your savings account instead of your checking account.

“It’s an accounting issue. And at the end of the year, more or less, an adjustment is made. That’s what we’re talking about here: an administrative adjustment of the available funds,” Greenwood said.

Council members expressed concern about the agency’s inability to determine how much MARTA actually owes to the More MARTA program.

Board President Doug Shipman questioned Greenwood about how MARTA handled funding for “More MARTA” between 2017 and 2019, the years Shipman characterized as the crux of the funding problem.

“They want to disprove that the auditors didn’t do it the right way, but unfortunately they can’t prove how they did it in the first place,” Shipman said.

Greenwood said Wednesday that they still don’t know the exact funding equation for how funds were allocated during that time period.

Greenwood said that without understanding how the funds were handled it is not possible to determine exactly how much money was potentially misappropriated.

Councilman Alex Wan said the funding issue raises public concerns about MARTA’s ability to carry out the More MARTA program.

“Churning is when you go round and round and nothing happens. And I just want to express that. That’s the concern I have. Is that we’re going to burn through all these funds to the point where projects are going to be in jeopardy,” Wan said.

Shipman said the citizens of Atlanta deserve to see more production from the “More MARTA” funds.

“I think if we went back to the voters in 2017 and said this is the progress we’ve made, we basically have a partially completed Summerhill bus rapid transit line, and we haven’t done any other capital projects, and it’s been seven years,” Shipman said. “I think voters would be unhappy, and I’m talking about that unhappy. I think we’re just kind of flailing and analyzing, and we’re not building enough.”

Shipman said he thinks the agency and city should agree on a reimbursement figure, have MARTA pay it and then move forward.

He said MARTA and the mayor of Atlanta should also rework their intergovernmental agreement to ensure better management of the More MARTA program.

“The (intergovernmental agreement) and the way the program is run in general needs to be updated, needs to be changed, needs to be improved, because at the moment it is not. (Greenwood) said the audit is useful, and I agree, but I think there is a lot more work to be done,” Shipman said.

Greenwood told council members he believes they will soon be able to find common ground on this funding issue and the future of Atlanta’s public transportation.

“One of the main things we’re trying to do is keep the atmosphere harmonious. It’s not about one project. It’s about the next 15 years of progress within the city and we’re not doing it in isolation,” Greenwood said.

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