The King County Council's transportation committee will hold a public hearing at Burien City Hall, 400 S.W. 152nd St., on July 21 at 6 p.m. on proposed transit service cuts.

The hearing will be held in City Council chambers on the first floor.

"King County has a choice of cutting 17 percent of our transit service-taking the system back to 1996 service levels-or preserving current service levels by enacting a $20 congestion reduction charge on vehicles in King County," said committee chairman Larry Phillips. "These meetings are an opportunity for the public to learn about the proposed service cuts and weigh in on the future of Metro transit."

Due to the dramatic recession-driven drop in sales tax revenues, Metro Transit is facing a $60 million annual deficit between revenues and the cost of providing current levels of transit service, officials noted.

That shortfall would require Metro to shrink service by 600,000 hours of annual bus service over the next two years, or 17 percent of the entire system, which is the equivalent of cutting all weekend transit service or all weekday rush hour bus service for commuters, according to county staffers.

In the past two years, Metro Transit has instituted scheduling changes, eliminated more than 100 staff positions, deferred planned service expansion, reduced operating reserves and reduced its capital program.

Since 2007, Metro has raised fares four times, an increase of 80 percent. Metro's employees also negotiated labor agreements that will reduce Metro's costs by $17 million per year.

The changes created by Metro over the past few years saved approximately $147 million per year, but the drop in sales tax revenues means Metro still faces an operating shortfall of $60 million a year each year from 2012 through 2015, Metro officials said.

The state Legislature authorized a tool that is available to King County to help maintain Metro service at its current level: a temporary $20 Congestion Reduction Charge on vehicle licenses for a two-year period ending in mid-2014. County Executive Dow Constantine has sent that proposal to the County Council as well as two other pieces of legislation:
An ordinance approving a congestion reduction plan, a prerequisite for council action on a Congestion Reduction Charge.

An ordinance cutting 100,000 hours of Metro bus service effective Feb. 2012 and directing Metro to plan for reducing bus service by an additional 500,000 service hours in the 2012-2013 budget.