A battle over transit funding is brewing in the San Joaquin Valley. The local Council of Governments is facing off against the region’s largest transit provider. At stake is the flow of state funds designated to support transit operations.
On one hand, the San Joaquin Regional Transit District (RTD) is so frustrated with the San Joaquin Council of Governments’ (SJCOG) handling of funds dedicated by the state to support transit operations that they are threatening a lawsuit. On the other hand, the COG argues that the RTD is not facing the kind of fiscal crisis that would trigger releasing the funds, and sending RTD those funds would violate the funding agreement they both signed last year.
“The full COG board unanimously said, when we start with the first tranche of SB 125 funding, we agreed to a policy statement that prioritized no further transit cuts or service reductions from 2022 levels,” explains Stockton Mayor Christina Fugazi, who chairs the SJCOG Board of Directors…