GCRTA Levy Is Headed to the Ballot. The Only Question Is When

This article was published through an exclusive content-sharing agreement with neo-trans.blog.

A half-percent sales tax increase to fund a modest expansion of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) and prevent more service cuts starting next year is going on the ballot in Cuyahoga County. The only question is when. And that will be decided by the GCRTA board July 7.

GCRTA staff and some board members want the permanent sales tax hike to go on the ballot this November — an aggressive timeline. Other board members want to wait until November 2027 to put the question before voters so a stronger campaign can be mounted.

But waiting beyond November 2026 means having to enact significant service cuts over the next two years to address rising costs and declining revenues. Two-thirds of all bus and rail routes would see their services reduced either in frequency, loss of evening service or both — before any new funding could be received from a voted-approved levy.

A half-percent sales tax raising $140 million per year was sought because it would fiscally stabilize the transit agency for the next 40 years. GCRTA staff said a quarter-percent sales tax raising $70 million per year would buy the agency only about 10 years of fiscal stability. GCRTA made significant budget cuts and minor service reductions this year.

“We’re not asking for money just to ask for it,” said GCRTA CEO and General Manager India Birdsong Terry at a special board meeting yesterday. “This results in a service reduction if we don’t get the support of the community, which could be viewed as a positive thing. It could be recognized by the business community that we’ve actually done everything that we can. But it is also hurtful for our riders.”

GCRTA management recommended that the board vote next week to put the levy on the November 2026 ballot. That would require filing the ballot language and paying a filing fee with the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections before its Aug. 5 deadline. A copy of the GCRTA board presentation is here.

“When we go (to the ballot), it is at a time that is most advantageous to us,” Birdsong Terry added, acknowledging that Cuyahoga County, various libraries and Cleveland Metroparks all have renewals or increases they will also be seeking in the coming years. Still, she said GCRTA wants to avoid crowding with other levies.

Endorsements have yet to be made as local leaders and organizations don’t yet know the details of GCRTA’s levy or if their political jurisdictions may be competing with it on a future ballot for support. 

An example is with Cuyahoga County. The county’s Board of Developmental Disabilities is seeking a new 2.25-mill, 10-year property tax levy in November. 

The lack of clarity on the GCRTA levy and whether it will compete with the county’s has caused a spokesperson for the county to issue a noncommittal statement to NEOtrans on whether it will support a transit levy.

“Public transportation is crucial for our region’s success and is critical to the county’s long‑term growth and competitiveness,” said the county’s Director of Communications Kelly Woodard. “We are aware of GCRTA’s financial outlook and look forward to continuing conversations with leadership to help best position GCRTA for the future.”

While a chartered county like Cuyahoga can seek another quarter percent of sales tax if it wanted, GCRTA can independently seek another half-percent of sales tax for its own transit purposes.

“November 2026 is way premature,” said GCRTA Board President and Bay Village Mayor Paul Koomar. “We’ve got to engage the business community in this recommendation and have them work with us. I think we’re behind where we should be. The business community doesn’t have a sense of this. We’ve got to get them on board.”

He cited input from GCRTA’s strategy consultant Burges & Burges of Euclid, which said the transit agency would need to stand up a political action committee to raise funds from potential stakeholders to promote the levy.

“I don’t think there’s enough time,” Koomar added. “I think the board is very supportive of looking at a ballot initiative, but the timing is key.”

Birdsong Terry said a lot of groundwork for the levy has already been done. In addition to hiring Burges & Burges, GCRTA has hired Adcom of Cleveland to run its public relations campaign, which has been developing a messaging strategy to voters. 

Koomar didn’t speak for all board members, however. GCRTA Trustee Jeffrey Weston Sleasman said the status quo also has a risk, which is the service cuts.

“The way businesses employ people and expect them to get to work is dependent on transit in this county, and I think there is a very high risk of not doing anything,” he said. “Fifty cents on every $100 that folks spend is a pretty good insurance policy against that risk. The faster we can get to the ballot, the better.”

Passing a levy in November means the sales tax revenue from it wouldn’t start coming in until the following July. So if the transit authority waits until November 2027 to put a levy in front of voters, revenues wouldn’t start coming in until July 2028. By then, GCRTA staff said it will have to cut service on another two-thirds of its routes. 

Birdsong Terry said that when GCRTA has restored service after it was reduced, it takes a long time for ridership to bounce back. She also said that some initiatives already underway will continue with or without the new levy.

“The major projects that we’ve promised to you, they’re still moving forward,” she said. “So the railcars are still coming. I don’t want anyone to think that that’s changed. I also don’t want anyone to think the smartcard is going away. All the things that we’ve talked about, including a new paratransit website revamp later this year, all those things are still moving.”

GCRTA has not sought any new tax levies since it was created 51 years ago and funded primarily by a 1 percent excise tax on all eligible purchases in Cuyahoga County. The sales tax was chosen to fund GCRTA because, until the 1970s, Cuyahoga County had never lost population in its history.

Since then, it has lost nearly one-fourth of its population. Fewer people means fewer purchases. Sales tax revenues have declined since GCRTA’s founding. Rather than ask for more money to cover rising wages, healthcare costs, fuel expenses, and other inflationary pressures, GCRTA management has opted to cut service and raise fares. 

That has led to what some in the transit industry call a “death spiral” for a public transit agency, making it less relevant. GCRTA has resisted raising fares which have proven counterproductive. It has driven away riders, causing fare revenue to flatten. Today, fares make up only 10 percent of GCRTA revenue.

And GCRTA management said it has cut service frequency to such an extent that it makes the transit network less useful and more unreliable. Not only do riders have to wait longer for a bus or train, but it turns the network into a bunch of isolated routes in which riders can travel only in straight lines.

“If you can’t make connections, the automobile analogy is, you can drive, but you’re not allowed to turn the steering wheel,” said GCRTA Service Management Director Joel Freilich.

Instead, if the half-percent increase is approved, GCRTA plans to do the opposite — increase frequency to offer a bus or train at least every 10 minutes on 10 routes and every 15 minutes on another dozen routes, said GCRTA Deputy General Manager of Operations Floun’say Caver.

He said more frequent service would be offered on 75 percent of all routes, seven days a week since Greater Cleveland’s economy — restaurants, retailers, warehouses and healthcare — needs workers daily. It plans to restore park-and-ride express buses from Westlake and North Olmsted into the city.

That is one element of GCRTA’s emerging message to voters — expanding service to serve a seven-day economy. It also said it will provide a rail system for a vibrant city, as GCRTA will begin receiving the first of its new, standardized railcars for all lines starting this fall.

GCRTA plans to expand rail service on existing lines, including running Blue and Green Line trains from Shaker Heights over the Red Line to Hopkins International Airport, offering trains every five minutes on the Airport-Downtown trunk line.

It will invest in priority corridors, with HealthLine bus rapid transit (BRT) service running every 7.5 minutes versus every 15 minutes today. Future BRT corridors are on West 25th Street, Broadway Avenue from the southeast suburbs to downtown, Lorain Avenue from North Olmsted to downtown, and an eastern suburbs BRT network that could serve 10 municipalities.

“A half-cent sales tax means a bus every 10 minutes on priority corridors,” said GCRTA Deputy General Manager of Engineering & Project Management Michael Schipper. “Right now we have great plans for the Broadway Corridor. We have no funding to implement it.”

He also said GCRTA will invest in enhancing comfort and safety with improved shelters, enhanced waiting environments and real-time passenger information at stops showing arriving buses and trains. And because, by law, paratransit access must mirror regular route service areas, dial-a-ride buses will be available in more places on more days with expanded regular service.

And last but not least, Caver said GCRTA’s levy will drive economic growth with greater access to jobs and housing. Currently, 334,000 jobs and 438,500 residents are within a half-mile of bus and rail services operating every 15 minutes or better.

With a new half-percent sales tax, he said that would grow to 396,000 jobs and 780,000 residents. And those working and living near service running every 10 minutes or better would grow from zero to 273,000 jobs and 301,000 residents.

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