Budget Portal

Where your local tax dollars come from, and where they go.

Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District (METRO)

Adopted budget, FY 2026-27 (METRO's FY27) (July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027)

METRO's Board adopted the FY27 and FY28 budget on June 26, 2026 (8 ayes, 3 absent). Figures are from the adopted budget presentation, which reports amounts in thousands of dollars.

Operating expenses

$72.9M

$72,921 thousand, up 2.2% from FY26.

METRO Board agenda packet, June 26, 2026, item 13B: FY27 final budget (PDF page numbers), p. 266

Sales tax, including Measure D

$32.5M

Its largest single source of money.

METRO Board agenda packet, June 26, 2026, item 13B: FY27 final budget (PDF page numbers), p. 266

Fares and special transit contracts

$10.5M

Covers 14.4% of operating costs (the farebox/contract recovery ratio).

METRO Board agenda packet, June 26, 2026, item 13B: FY27 final budget (PDF page numbers), p. 266

Staff positions (full-time equivalent)

386.5

27 fewer than FY26 (413.5), mostly bus operators.

METRO Board agenda packet, June 26, 2026, item 13B: FY27 final budget (PDF page numbers), p. 273

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Where METRO's operating money comes from

Total $80.3M

  • Sales tax, including Measure D$32.5M (40.5%)
  • Passenger fares and special transit contracts$9.7M (12.1%)
  • Transportation Development Act (TDA)$9.3M (11.6%)
  • State TIRCP grant (SB 125)$7.6M (9.5%)
  • Federal operating assistance$6.5M (8.1%)
  • STIC (State Transit Incentive Credit)$6.0M (7.5%)
  • State Transit Assistance (including SB 1)$4.2M (5.3%)
  • AHSC grant$1.8M (2.3%)
  • LCTOP grant$800K (1.0%)
  • All other revenue$1.7M (2.2%)

The budget reports these in millions, rounded to the nearest $0.1 million (so they add to slightly less than the $80.3 million total); shares are the budget's own.Source: METRO Board agenda packet, June 26, 2026, item 13B: FY27 final budget (PDF page numbers), p. 272

Staff positions by department (full-time equivalent)

Total 386.5

  • Bus operators203 (52.5%)
  • Paratransit48 (12.4%)
  • Fleet maintenance45 (11.6%)
  • Operations22 (5.7%)
  • Facilities maintenance17 (4.4%)
  • Finance8 (2.1%)
  • Customer service8 (2.1%)
  • Human resources6 (1.6%)
  • Information technology6 (1.6%)
  • Planning, grants, governmental affairs6 (1.6%)
  • Inventory management5 (1.3%)
  • Marketing4 (1.0%)
  • Purchasing3.5 (0.9%)
  • Administration3 (0.8%)
  • Safety, security and risk management2 (0.5%)

Source: METRO Board agenda packet, June 26, 2026, item 13B: FY27 final budget (PDF page numbers), p. 273

Good to know

Notes on the numbers
  • METRO's budget presentation reports amounts in thousands of dollars (the funding chart in millions), so figures here are rounded accordingly.
  • The funding chart's categories differ slightly from the budget summary's (for example, fares appear as $9.7 million there and $10.477 million in the summary); the budget notes its numbers may not foot due to rounding.

Every figure is taken from Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District (METRO)'s own budget documents and was checked against the source page on 2026-09-27. All of this budget's documents