There's little question that the Chicago Transit Authority is on a one-way path to a painful budget year.

But as the agency's public funding suffers along with the economy, transit officials could have another problem: a failure to communicate.

At its regular meeting yesterday, the CTA Board of Trustees received a visit from representatives of the Regional Transportation Authority,  which has a big say over how much money goes to the beleaguered Chicago agency.

And while the CTA and RTA agreed that 2009 will be a tough year for the city's transit system, they were on different sides of the tracks when it came to how bad things went in 2008.

CTA officials estimate a public-funding shortfall of about $87 million, while RTA officials say the figure is closer to $58 million.

The discrepancy could influence how much money the CTA receives from the regional authority, which also sets funding marks for the Metra commuter rail and Pace suburban buses.

After telling CTA board members that he has "almost daily conversations" about the CTA's financial situation with Acting President Dorval Carter, RTA Executive Director Stephen Schlickman appeared surprised when asked about the CTA's $87 million estimate.

"It's 58 (million dollars), I think. Our numbers are 58 million (dollars)," Schlickman says.

Why the discrepancy?

"That's one of the issues," he says. "We need to have a good flow of information so we understand the problem."

CTA Chairwoman Carole Brown agrees that staff at her agency has met and talked with RTA officials almost daily about budget issues. However, she stood by the larger shortfall estimate, drawn up by retiring CTA Chief Financial Officer Dennis Anosike.

"We're going to have to come to an agreement and a conclusion on this number," Brown says.

CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney says the CTA based its 2008 shortfall figure on deficient funding from three sources:

    * Sales-tax revenue, which came in $42.1 million lower than expected

    * The Real Estate Transfer Tax, which was short by $32.9 million

    * Discretionary funding, which drew a deficit of $11.8 million

Based on those figures, the shortfall would equal $86.8 million, more than the agency lost on free-ride programs required by the state and Chicago City Council combined.

When asked, RTA officials say they aren't sure how their shortfall estimate arrived about $29 million below the CTA's.

"The short answer, whether it's 58 (million dollars) or 87 (million dollars), is that that's part of what we're working on," RTA Chairman Jim Reilly says.

Reilly added that there may be ways to "credit some revenue to 2008 that will balance their books."

Brown stopped short of suggesting that a balanced budget would be possible -- even if the RTA can manage to secure $120 million in working cash for the CTA. By paying the 2008 deficit, officials could cannibalize revenue during a year that's expected to be far worse than the last.

Brown says the additional working cash would not fix budget shortfalls "if we are talking about a 58 (million dollar) or 87 million (dollar) problem in 2008 and a 155 million (dollar) problem in 2009. We'd still have to make other adjustments."

What adjustments those would be is still unclear. While Brown called service cuts and fare increases "the last resort," the CTA board has already raised fares this year.

The just-signed federal stimulus bill could help during the budget crunch. Brown says that the agency is set to receive about $283 million from the package.

But that money is tied to capital projects, and there is no guarantee that officials will be able to divert the funds to avoid service cuts or further fare increases.

One option, Brown says, might be to replace aging train cars to reduce maintenance costs. But slackened demand for maintenance might bode badly for CTA workers, 51 of whose positions were cut during Wednesday's board meeting.

It's a bad situation, but it's no surprise, RTA's Reilly says.

"The notion that there's anybody on earth who didn't know in October, November and December of 2008 that the economy was collapsing is preposterous," he says. "Nobody knew – we still don't know the final number for 2008 – but there was no lack of information that the economy was in trouble."