Budget Variance
Definition: The difference (measured in percentage terms) between the actual net operating expenses and the budget.
Performance (November 2025):
The budget variance for the month of November was unfavorable at 14.0% over the forecast, mostly due to unfavorable variances in overtime costs, casualty and liability costs for accidents and incidents, and due to lower than forecasted direct and indirect expenses for capital projects.
Note: These figures are preliminary and unaudited.
Note: In April 2025, we revised the budget variance formula in this report to match other Finance reporting. The calculation previously showed a positive value when over-budget and negative when under-budget. With this revision, values that are over-budget will be negative (i.e., unfavorable) and under-budget will be positive (i.e., favorable). This inversion is the only change, and it matches the calculation to other public financial reporting at MARTA. It will apply to historical and current values.