ATLANTA — Atlanta City Council members held a press conference Tuesday to discuss an approved resolution by the council calling for a financial audit of the More MARTA Program.
Council members approved the MARTA Audit resolution this week during a city council meeting. According to a city council news release, the immediate consideration item request that MARTA submits to a complete financial audit of the More MARTA program to be paid for and administered by the City’s Department of Finance.
The More MARTA program is expected to cost $2.7 billion; the money would be invested in transit enhancements and expansions over a 40-year period, city leaders said. Atlanta residents voted in favor of a half-penny sales tax in 2016 that would help fund the expenses for the projects.
Council members want to see if MARTA has spent the money properly. Councilmember Amir Farokhi said the audit is for good governance and not necessarily in response to an action by MARTA.
“Public trust in government requires accountability,” Farokhi said in a news release. “Atlanta residents took a leap of faith when they agreed to impose a tax on themselves in exchange for more transit inside the city. In particular, a regressive sales tax that hits some residents harder than others. MARTA needs to repay that faith by periodically opening up the books to the people so that they can see how their money is being spent.”
MARTA issued a statement Tuesday afternoon, calling the city council's position "disappointing and disingenuous."
"We have answered these questions, and instead of accepting the answers, Council is playing politics by demanding a full performance review of decisions made by previous MARTA and City of Atlanta leaders," part of the statement reads. "This is yet another stall tactic from a collective group that has been wringing their hands and conflating the More MARTA program with the City’s Renew Atlanta TSPLOST program."
MARTA claims the "roadblocks" causes delays for their projects.
The city council wants MARTA to respond to the audit request by March 29.