CHICAGO — The Regional Transportation Authority of Illinois has hired former Chicago revenue director Bea Reyna-Hickey as its chief financial officer, filling the position left vacant by Grace Galluci’s departure to run the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency.
Reyna-Hickey started this week. She will report to RTA executive director Joe Costello who said she was picked for her extensive fiscal background and track record in achieving efficiencies.
“We are pleased to have Bea join our executive team to lead in further advancing our strategic priorities initiative,” Costello said in a statement. “She looks forward to working with the RTA board, staff and her counterparts at the service boards to make financially sound choices benefiting mass transit in northeastern Illinois.”
Reyna-Hickey was named director of the city’s Department of Revenue in 2000. She managed 500 employees with a $53 million budget. Reyna-Hickey left the city last year.
The department oversees taxes, accounts receivable, collections, financial reporting, municipal code fines, parking and garage operations. During her tenure, she was credited with streamlining operations and improving the use of technology.
Reyna-Hickey also previously was director of administration for the city’s Aviation Department and personnel director for the Department of Housing.
The RTA provides fiscal oversight of the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra commuter rail and Pace suburban bus service.
Fitch Ratings assigns a AA rating with a negative outlook to the RTA. Moody’s Investors Service rates the agency Aa3 with a stable outlook. Standard & Poor’s assigns a AA with a stable outlook.
The RTA has about $2 billion of general obligation bonds and has exhausted most of its state-authorized long-term borrowing capacity.
Fitch’s negative outlook reflects “continuing financial pressure both on operations and capital spending due to the delinquent state payments and the state’s persistent financial challenges.”
The agency’s 2012 budget totaled $3.9 billion, including $2.5 billion in operating expenses and $1.4 billion for capital.
The RTA is slated to receive $2.7 billion from Illinois’ ongoing $31 billion capital budget.
Its current five-year capital program totals $3.8 billion.
The funds fall far short of what is needed, the RTA has warned, and the struggle to identify revenue sources remains especially given uncertainty over long-term federal funding.
Galluci took over as executive director of the transportation and environmental planning agency that serves the Cleveland region in July.
She came to the RTA in 2007. After her predecessor, Costello, became the agency’s executive director in late 2010, she was elevated to CFO and deputy executive director.
She previously was head of the office of management and budget for the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority.
