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Metropolitan Council briefing credits 2023 regional sales tax with averting a transit 'fiscal cliff'
Summary
At a May 13 briefing, Metropolitan Transportation Services Executive Director Charles Carlson told the Council the 2023 regional sales tax replaced unstable funding sources, supported service restorations and capital needs, and is enabling projects and safety investments while ridership remains below pre‑COVID levels.
Charles Carlson, executive director of Metropolitan Transportation Services, told the Metropolitan Council at its May 13 meeting that the 2023 regional transportation sales tax was essential to avoid what he called a "fiscal cliff" and to stabilize transit operations and capital needs across the Twin Cities region.
In a broad presentation Carlson reviewed more than a century of transit governance, the shift in funding from fares and property taxes to motor vehicle sales tax (MVST), and the effect of federal pandemic aid and its subsequent end. He said the sales tax "replaced county transitway operating funds and state general fund appropriations" and provides a more reliable base for operations, safety, microtransit and capital replacement. When asked for tangible examples, Carlson said that without the sales tax "none of that would have been able to be implemented," citing network‑level service changes (Network Now), microtransit coverage and safety initiatives as examples.
Carlson also presented data on recovery since 2019: council-provided services were roughly 70% of 2019 ridership in 2025 while service hours had recovered to about 93% of 2019 levels; suburban providers showed varied recovery patterns. He quantified potential cost-relief impacts, noting an estimated average annual state structural operating deficit of about $174 million that the sales tax helps address, about $109 million a year in county transitway operating relief and roughly $50 million a year that the state no longer must provide for transitway operations over a five‑year window.
Council members asked for concise talking points to share with city councils and requested examples of the projects and safety investments enabled by the new funding. Members and staff also highlighted the Council’s AAA bond rating as evidence of improved financial stability since the 2023 law.
The briefing concluded with a Q&A in which members praised staff work and discussed next steps for network implementation and community outreach.
