RTA Board Debating Whether to Seek Levy in May or November 2027

The RTA board seems at loggerheads as far as when they should present their first financial ask to Cuyahoga County voters in a half century.

It seemed settled earlier this spring, amid a fair amount of debate, that RTA would likely head to the ballot with a levy ask in May 2027, seeking voter approval on a 0.25 percent or .5 percent increase in sales tax. But there doesn’t seem to be consensus any longer.

This week’s board meeting was flush with pros and cons of both the May and November 2027 ballots. May would mean money sooner, as to help right the agency’s $78 million budget deficit. A spring election is also less crowded without other key levy decisions.

Hopping on November’s, on the other hand, would allow RTA CEO India Birdsong Terry and board members to pitch the levy to the powers that be, and to advertise the levy’s perks to county voters that will have to, in one way or another, pay for them.

Birdsong Terry said on Tuesday she’s already gotten a head start on RTA’s PR tour. “Educational briefings” with Mayor Justin Bibb and County Executive Chris Ronayne have been, she said, “very positive.”

With, of course, the all so important question of timeliness.

“Why now? I’ve been hearing that a lot, ‘Why now? Why is RTA going to the ballot box in 2027 verus three years ago or five years from now,” she said at Tuesday’s meeting. That answer, she added, “depends a lot on the room we’re in.”

A majority vote yes, in May or November, would keep RTA’s budget manageable and allow it to operate what some may call a 21st century transit service.

Especially if that yes is for the full levy ask of .5 percent.

Healthline buses could arrive every 10 minutes. Green and Blue lines could travel all the way to the airport. RTA could replace shelters and stops and install real-time information screens comparable to those in San Francisco and Portland, Ore. Park and Ride routes in North Olmsted and Westlake would come online again.

A yes in May would almost immediately fuel RTA’s staggering budget and allow the agency to right itself among the millions in proposed cuts, including the curtailing of nine routes and shuttering of one. Earlier this month, the board voted to delay the start of those cuts until after a ballot decision has been made.

A fear of subpar service that propelled several board members to choose early over late.

“I think we all understand that it is necessary, almost imperative, that we move forward in May of 2027,” board member Anastasia Elder said.

“If we wait too later, we then put ourselves in a position where we hit this fiscal cliff that we’ve been talking about,” she added. “Waiting till November puts us in that kind of situation.”

Delaying the appearance at the ballot box would allow RTA to unleash a county-wide ad campaign, as it’s done for years on bus stop glass, on billboards or in commercials.

Such ads would have to convince a bulk of suburban voters, many whom might not even use transit, that spending hundreds more on taxed purchases a year would be worth more robust bus and train service.

Answers that stakeholders already want to know, board members said.

“Really, the devil’s in the details,” Bay Village Mayor Paul Koomar said. People want to know “what does that mean for increased frequency or increased lines or riderships or bringing back Park and Rides?”

The board’s recommendations remains at the .5 percent salex tax increase, Birdsong Terry said. The last time voters okayed more money for transit was, she reminded everyone, in 1975.