An expected raid on Florida's Transportation Trust Fund to balance the state budget could hurt transit service here ­ or necessitate a fare raise.

Miami-Dade Transit receives about $18.7 million in state grants for system operations and maintenance.

But Tallahassee legislators are eyeing the transportation pot as one way to help fill a $3.2 billion state budget gap.

The budget won't be final until month's end at earliest.

It looked for a while like the hit to the gas-tax-fueled transportation trust could be as much as $400 million, but lawmakers this week began talking about a $160 million cut.

It's unclear now what that means locally.

Cutting Miami-Dade's transit grant “would have a huge detrimental impact on our actual existing operations,“ Assistant County Manager Ysela Llort warned commissioners last week.

Losing or shrinking the grant wouldn't slow or cut capital projects ­ it would affect transit operations and maintenance, Ms.
Llort stressed in an interview after the commissioners' committee meeting.

“That's why it's so important,“ she said.

Transit Director Harpal Kapoor echoed that in an interview.

If the state grant is pulled, “it will have a major impact on Miami-Dade Transit,“ he said. “It would be adjusting everything.“

The department would have to either cut service, increase transit fares or find funding elsewhere to make up for the lost dollars, Mr. Kapoor said.

Officials have said no more bus miles remain to cut.

“We think we're about low as we can go, period,“ County Manager George Burgess said last month in explaining a nolayoffs pact with the Transport Workers Union.

It didn't seem “wise“ to lay off transit workers and trim bus service further after cuts in recent years, he said.

Since 2006, the county has cut millions of miles of bus travel, saving tens of millions of dollars for the once-struggling system.

Two years ago, the transit department faced a $20 million operations gap.

Commissioners since have agreed to raise fares 50 cents and reroute most of the revenue from the voter-approved halfpercent sales surtax meant for new transportation projects to patch holes in the transit operating budget. The fixes helped balance the transit budget last year.

The planned raid on the state transportation trust could mean bumps in the road ­ not only for the county transit department, but for the local Florida Department of Transportation district's work program.

The district already is facing a $50 million cut to its five-year program because of bleak revenue projections alone. A raid on the state trust would mean another to-be-determined hit.

Projects that have yet to begin are most vulnerable. Capacity and aesthetic initiatives tend to take a back seat when budgets get tight.
Safety and preservation projects are always top priorities.

The legislative session in Tallahassee is due to end April 30.
Once the budget is final, the state can begin assessing transportation fallout.

From there, department of transportation districts will have to do the same at the local level.