ATLANTA --- Gov. Sonny Perdue's staff met with MARTA officials on Tuesday after the transit system's leaders called for a special legislative session to sort out funding problems that could force it to cut services.
But Mr. Perdue suggested it was unlikely he would heed the agency's request to call legislators back to Atlanta so they can give MARTA more power to tap into reserves. He said MARTA officials never requested his help to push the measure through the session that ended Friday.
MARTA chief executive Beverly Scott on Monday blamed the Legislature for failing to grant the transit system more power to help balance a $24 million budget shortfall. She said the transit system might have to reduce service to six days a week.
The agency was seeking a change in state law that prevents it from dipping into a $65 million reserve fund for capital projects. The Senate passed a measure allowing it to do so, but it was tangled up in the House with a separate transportation measure.
Ms. Scott said the shortfall was rooted in plummeting sales tax collections from Fulton and DeKalb counties, which account for most of the transit system's funding. The agency is set to vote on service cutbacks in June.
Perdue spokesman Bert Brantley said MARTA officials met with the governor's staff Tuesday morning to try to hash out a funding solution. He also noted the transit system didn't ask for the governor's help until after the 40-day legislative session.
"He's open to helping them," Mr. Brantley said. "But special sessions are expensive, and there's not room for them in the budget."
Atlanta Democrats are planning a news conference at MARTA's main station today to urge the governor to take action.
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