CALIFORNIA - Nearly 130 Orange County Transportation Authority employees will be laid off as the agency deals with a significant drop in sales tax and revenue from fares.

"This is not something we've chosen as the first order of business," said Chief Executive Will Kempton. "It is a tragic situation. We have great employees ... dedicated people."

Sixty coach operators and 15 maintenance jobs will be cut to correspond with the reduction of 150,000 annual service hours - 8 percent of the county's bus service - that will take effect in March. Fifty-two administrative jobs will also be cut - about nine of those positions are vacant and will not be filled, said OCTA spokesman Joel Zlotnik.

The OCTA will save $13 million with the reduction of 150,000 hours in bus service plus the personnel cuts and about $5 million with the administrative cuts.

"With the state cuts in transit-oriented support, we really don't have any other choice," Kempton said.

The OCTA faces a more than $330 million shortfall over the next five years.

Patrick D. Kelly of Teamsters Local 952 said the transit-funding mechanism on the federal and state level is broken and needs to be fixed.