The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority has marked its 18th consecutive year with a balanced Operating Budget, according to year-end data from Fiscal Year 2017, which was the 12-month period from July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017. The Operating Budget provides for the everyday expenses of running the transportation system, such as labor, fuel and power.
To balance the budget, SEPTA carefully managed expenses throughout the year, including continuing aggressive efforts to combat fraudulent lawsuits by utilizing its surveillance camera network. Other initiatives, such as a wayside storage program that utilizes regenerative braking on rail cars, are helping reduce energy costs.
The $1.4 billion Fiscal Year 2017 Operating Budget reflected the Authority's business vision and priorities of SEPTA's Building for the Future plan, which defines five areas of strategic effort: Customer Experience, SEPTA is a Business, Employee Development, Rebuilding the System, and Safety as the Foundation.
For its continued efforts to be transparent with its budget process and provide the public with a clear and detailed budget book, SEPTA was again honored with the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) Distinguished Budget Award.
