The BART Board of Directors approved Thursday an official response to a civil grand jury report about the transit system’s structural budget deficit and its governance and oversight systems.
In May, the Contra Costa County Civil Grand Jury released a report titled “BART at a Crossroads: Structural Deficit, Governance Accountability, and the Choices Ahead” and made recommendations to the BART board.
To compile the report, the jury conducted interviews with BART leadership, staff and labor representatives and reviewed public records, committee meetings and audit practices at BART.
California’s civil grand jury system provides independent investigations into issues in counties and is composed of residents who select which areas or problems they want to explore. The jury creates its report and then requires leaders such as boards of supervisors, city councils, or other departments and panels to respond.
In the response approved by the Board of Directors at Thursday’s meeting, BART staff said 10 of the recommendations have either been implemented or will be implemented, seven require further analysis, and three will not be implemented because they are not warranted or reasonable.
The Civil Grand Jury’s report highlighted the $375 million budget deficit that BART is facing starting in fiscal year 2027.
“BART’s five-year (FY2027-FY2031) financial forecast does not identify a path to structural balance without new dedicated revenue, additional cost reductions, or both,” the report said.
Like other public transit agencies in the region, BART is suffering from a budget crisis as COVID-19 pandemic-era emergency funding runs out while ridership remains below pre-pandemic levels.
The Connect Bay Area initiative, a half-cent sales tax proposed in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, as well as a one-cent sales tax in San Francisco, is set to appear on the November 2026 ballot to help fund local transit agencies.
If passed, it will provide some financial relief to BART, but not enough; the Civil Grand Jury noted that the transit agency would still be staring at a deficit of $192 million through fiscal year 2031.
Responding to 10 recommendations related to developing long-term plans to increase revenues, cut operational costs and streamline staffing, BART staff was broadly in agreement with nine, stating that the changes will be or have been implemented, or that further analysis will be conducted.
The remaining recommendations dealt with deficiencies in the oversight mechanisms within BART.
Three pillars of BART oversight
Within BART, the report notes, there exist three different pillars of oversight. An Audit Committee consists of three board members and two public finance experts, who offer financial and compliance oversight. The Office of the Inspector General identifies fraud, waste and opportunities for operational improvements.
Finally, an Internal Audit function — a department that reports to the Audit Committee — conducts operational and compliance reviews.
The Civil Grand Jury found that the documents governing the role, scope and hierarchy of these three departments are not consistent with each other.
For instance, though the Internal Audit is supposed to report to the Audit Committee, the latter only has the authority to review, but not approve, annual audit plans.
“The conditions documented in this investigation indicate that BART’s governance and oversight structures do not fully operate in conformance with … professional auditing standards or with the responsibilities defined in BART’s own governing documents,” the report said.
Overall, the BART directors expressed gratitude for the Civil Grand Jury’s report at Thursday’s meeting and agreed that there is scope for improvement when it comes to governance and oversight.
“There’s a lot of little process things that need tightening up, and the report picked up on that,” said District 3 Director Barnali Ghosh, who serves on the Audit Committee.
“It [the report] helps us understand what we’re communicating and what might be missed by people in their understanding,” Ghosh added.
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