Anoka County, Metro Transit locked in Northstar funding dispute

Anoka County and Metro Transit can't agree on who should pay to run the Northstar commuter rail line more than two years after the COVID-19 pandemic caused ridership to plummet.

The Anoka County Board has made what it calls its "full and final payment" to cover the county's share of 2022 operating costs for Northstar, but Metro Transit says the $1.95 million check does not fulfill the county's obligations.

Metro Transit and Anoka County have been battling over payments for two years. The transit agency said it needs money from the county to operate a full schedule with four inbound and outbound trips each weekday.

When ridership fell 70% with the onset of the pandemic, the transit agency cut service to two daily runs in each direction and scrapped popular special event trains for Twins and Vikings games. With fewer trains running, Anoka County officials say they should have to pay only for services received.

The squabble has left riders like Joe Montalvo of Monticello caught in the middle.

"It's limited," said Montalvo, who was waiting for an afternoon train at the Fridley Station on Wednesday.

Montalvo said he regularly rode Northstar before the pandemic but now carpools most days. After waiting two years for trains to run more frequently, "I've given up hope," he said.

The line runs from downtown Minneapolis to Big Lake, including stops in the Anoka County cities of Ramsey, Anoka, Coon Rapids and Fridley.

Anoka County said it left its last meeting with the Met Council in December "with the ball in their court," waiting for the council to set a meeting. "That has not happened yet," a county spokesman said Saturday.

"We have been in regular contact with the county at a staff level, but we are not aware of receiving any requests to meet at a staff or policymaker level...,and have never refused to meet," the agency said in a statement.

Anoka County was supposed to have paid nearly $6 million to Metro Transit last year, but successfully reduced its bill to $1.95 million. Federal COVID relief funds and a rebate from the railroad track owner, BNSF, made up the difference. Though the county and Metro Transit agreed to the 2021 figure, there has been no signed agreement on this year's payment.

"They are giving the same service in 2022, so we are paying the exact same amount that we gave them in 2021, even though they requested four times the amount," said Anoka County Board Chair Scott Schulte at a June 28 board meeting. "Consider this our entire full and final payment for 2022."

Metro Transit was seeking to collect about $4.6 million from the county to cover 2022 operating expenses. That amount assumed Metro Transit would run four weekday trips each way, but no game day service.

"The Metropolitan Council continues to indicate [game day] service is not happening solely because of the county's payment amount, when this service was never included as part of the 2022 agreement," the county statement said.

But Metro Transit said it was not able to increase service levels this year because Anoka County withheld payments for the last six months of 2020 and all of 2021, according to agency spokesperson Drew Kerr. The county has since paid in full for both years.

The $1.95 million payment for 2022 "will not be sufficient to cover the county's share of costs for current services," Kerr said. "This means it will not be enough to pay for increases in services or the addition of event services, as we had hoped for in 2022."

Northstar ridership was about 2,700 passengers a day before the pandemic. After declining, the passenger count has doubled this year to about 300 daily boardings, according to May Metro Transit data.

Afnan Siddique, a University of Minnesota student, said having only two trains a day is inconvenient. More options would allow him to sleep in an extra hour, he said, and make it easier to get to and from his summer internship at the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT).

"If I could catch the train at 7:30 [a.m.] instead of 6, it would be nice," he said.

Anoka County is one of several funding sources that cover Northstar's costs, including Sherburne and Hennepin counties and MnDOT. The county has no say when trains run or for what purpose. That decision rests with Metropolitan Council.

Kerr said the county needs to add about $1 million to its authorized payment just to cover service costs, citing the rising costs of fuel, utilities and parts.

As the impasse continues, Kerr said the transit agency will continue to run just two weekday trains.

"We cannot add services when we are not being fully paid for current service," Kerr said. With other funders "current with their payments, we are preparing to add service once an agreement is reached with Anoka County."

County Commissioner Matt Look said the County Board likely would not object to paying the full $4.6 million if Metro Transit had held up its part of the agreement to run four weekday trains each way.

"We have a highly underperforming asset, but we get the luxury of paying for it," Look said. "We only have the responsibility of making sure that we pay for a contract and that the service we paid for was in fact rendered. We have to do what is best for our people and our taxpayers."

Kerr said Metro Transit is hopeful differences can be resolved, and that payments the county recently made for 2020 and 2021 were an important start.

Montalvo said a resolution can't happen soon enough.

"This is terrible. People are still working," he said. "They need to work this out."