Transportation first study for new office

By Dana Reilly
PBN Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE – The new Office of Management and Budget will conduct a study of the state’s transportation programs, Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee announced Monday afternoon at a RIPTA board meeting.

Chafee called for the creation of OMB in his fiscal year 2013 budget proposal.

It is projected that RIPTA will face an $8 million deficit next year, and the OMB’s report will include short-term recommendations for the fiscal 2013 supplemental budget.

The study also will yield longer-term recommendations for changes to transportation programs and operations, organizational structure and management, and funding and expenditures.

“I am very excited to have RIPTA be a part of this transportation study,” Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian, chairman of the RIPTA Board, said in prepared remarks. “We at RIPTA stand ready and willing to work with [Chafee] on making the necessary changes to strengthen our commitment to mass transit in Rhode Island.”

The OMB is still without a director, though the governor’s office told Providence Business News the appointment will be made shortly.