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The Duluth Transit Authority has seen this storm coming for years.
They knew the federal COVID money wasn’t permanent. CARES, CRRSAA, ARPA — a once-in-a-lifetime infusion of cash that kept the buses rolling and payroll humming.
In 2023 alone, Washington poured more than $16 million into DTA coffers. That wasn’t a gift to spend like Monopoly money. That was a bridge. And what did DTA management and the board do? They treated it like a permanent revenue stream.
Now the bridge has ended, the road drops off a cliff, and they’re asking Duluth taxpayers to build them a new one with property taxes.
The 2025 DTA operating budget is climbing to $25.8 million — up more than 10 percent in a single year. And with the federal gravy train off the tracks, the DTA is turning to City Hall with its hand out. The levy request? Up nearly seven percent.
Here’s the rub: every other sector in town is tightening its belt. Nonprofits cutting staff. Attractions trimming hours. Businesses delaying projects. Families wondering how they’ll stay in their homes when property taxes keep climbing. But not the DTA. They want more. They need more. And they’re shameless about it.
Where’s the fat? Look at the union contracts. The current Teamsters Local 346 agreement runs through 2026. Top bus operator pay steps up every January: $26.70 in 2022, $27.10 in 2023, $27.50 in 2024, $27.90 in 2025, $28.30 in 2026. A six-percent hike over five years.
Multiply that across dozens of drivers, add mechanics, cleaners, pension contributions, overtime, health care — it adds up. Modest raises, sure, but management knew they’d compound. They knew costs were rising. They knew the federal funds would dry up.
And they did nothing.
Instead of using those relief dollars to prepare for leaner years, they acted like they’d never end. Instead of trimming routes, consolidating services, or modernizing in ways that save money, they coasted.
Instead of leveling with the public that transit in a city this size needs hard tradeoffs, they played Santa Claus.
Now the bill’s due. And guess who pays it?
The homeowner in Piedmont Heights who’s already shelling out for schools, parks, city debt, and county services. The retiree in Lakeside watching property taxes creep higher than the cost of groceries.
The landlord in West Duluth trying to keep rent affordable while every line on the tax bill inches upward. They’re the ones forced to backstop an agency that couldn’t manage its own calendar.
Duluth residents are being taxed out of their homes, and every unit of government, every nonprofit, every attraction, every small business is pinching pennies. Everyone’s tightening the belt except the DTA.
And here’s the dangerous part: once one agency lines up at the tax food line, the others aren’t far behind. If the DTA can plead poverty and point to inflation, why not the library system? Why not the port authority?
Why not every nonprofit that touches a dime of city money? Who’s next in line with a paper plate and a sob story?
Taxpayers aren’t blind. They see a bus or two rolling through town nearly empty at noon on a Tuesday. They remember when DTA buses carried 3.3 million riders a year barely a decade ago, compared with fewer than 2 million today.
Ridership has fallen by nearly half, yet the budget keeps climbing. They hear about operators making close to $30 an hour while ridership remains a fraction of what it was.
They look at the levy increase and wonder: is this about public service, or is this about covering management’s mistakes?
Transit is important, no question. People depend on it to get to work, to school, to medical appointments. Nobody’s arguing we shut the buses down. But taxpayers deserve a system that’s lean, accountable, and realistic — not one that lurches from federal bailout to local bailout with no long-term plan.
Shame on the DTA for pretending the pandemic dollars were forever. Shame on the board for rubber-stamping budgets that leaned on one-time money. And shame on them for dumping the problem in taxpayers’ laps with a straight face.
The DTA’s levy request isn’t about growth. It isn’t about better service. It’s about cleaning up a mess they made themselves. And unless someone at City Hall has the guts to say no, Duluth homeowners will keep paying for that incompetence — one tax hike at a time.
