The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Board of Directors has passed a new labor contract with the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 265 and a budget for the next two fiscal years (FY).
The new contract with ATU, a four-year deal which deviates from the traditional three-year contract, will took effect on June 9. The contract includes a 14.5 percent pay increase over four years, expanded dental benefits, expanded apparel vouchers and workplace policy improvements. The agency says its three other unions, AFSCME, SEIU and TAEA, also have four-year contracts, which were renewed earlier in the spring.
Santa Clara VTA’s FY26/27 biennial budget was approved, as the agency heads into deficits of more than $800,000 for FY26 and $14.1 million for FY27. Departments across the agency worked closely to identify cost efficiencies, safeguard essential services and stay true to its values of equity and sustainable mobility. The agency plans to offset its losses through cost-cutting measures that do not reduce transit service, potentially supplementing with reserve funds.
According to the agency, the budget process was among the most challenging in recent memory, shaped by declining sales tax revenues, rising operating costs and ongoing economic uncertainty.
