The board of San Jose, Calif.’s Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) passed two necessary votes at its regular monthly meeting regarding a contract with the agency’s largest union and a budget for the next two fiscal years.

The Last Step of the Union Puzzle

The board unanimously approved a contract ratified by an overwhelming majority of employees represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 265.

The new contract with ATU, a four-year deal which deviates from the traditional three-year contract, will take effect June 9. 

The two sides settled on a new contract when ATU members voted overwhelmingly to accept a four-year deal that included a 14.5% pay increase over four years, expanded dental benefits, expanded apparel vouchers, and workplace policy improvements. 

VTA’s three other unions, AFSCME, SEIU, and TAEA, also have four-year contracts renewed earlier in the spring.

 2-Year Budget Also Approved

The agency said the FY 26/27 biennial budget was approved, as VTA heads into deficits of more than $800,000 for FY 26 and $14.1 million for FY 27. 

Departments across VTA worked closely to identify cost efficiencies, safeguard essential services, and stay true to its equity and sustainable mobility values. 

The agency plans to offset its losses through cost-cutting measures that do not reduce transit service, potentially supplementing with reserve funds.

VTA officials said this year’s budget process was among the most challenging in recent memory, shaped by declining sales tax revenues, rising operating costs, and ongoing economic uncertainty.