CARTA Freezes Admin Pay

Apparently CARTA took note of the outrage over pay raises for the administrative staff  remaining in their budget, while passengers are going to pay higher fares and are still waiting to hear about route cuts.  Today this Post and Courier article is stating that the admin salaries will be frozen for 2011. There are a number of committee meetings coming up to address different budget items, as well as the possibility of cutting bus routes. I highly recommend that anyone who is either dependent on or interested in public transportation here in the Charleston area try to attend any of the meetings that fit in your schedule. Even if they don't allow public comment, these committees and the CARTA board need to know people are paying attention. I find it interesting that all of a sudden there's a rush to review and push through these changes. Or maybe it's normal for this type of organization to wait until the last minute to figure out how to make up for a $1.4 million dollar shortfall? It almost seems as though CARTA was hoping that somehow magically the issue would correct itself without any action on their part. Below is the list of upcoming meetings. I'll post results as they become available.

Upcoming CARTA meetings as stated by the Post and Courier:

 CARTA Human Resource Committee  meets 1:30 p.m. Monday 8/30 at the North Charleston City Hall, Third Floor, Durant Conference Room, 2500 City Hall Lane.

 CARTA Finance Committee meets 4 p.m. Monday 8/30/10 at the North Charleston City Hall, Third Floor, Buist Conference Room, 2500 City Hall Lane.

**CARTA Route Performance Committee**  meeting  4 p.m. Wednesday 9/1/10 at Charleston County Main Library, Conference Room B, 68 Calhoun St. This is the big one, to review recommendations to cut services.