Grim fiscal forecast confronts SMART rail service

Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit’s chief financial officer presented a bleak report last week on the financial health of the rail agency.

At a meeting of SMART’s Board of Directors in Petaluma on Wednesday, Erin McGrath outlined the challenges SMART faces on two fronts — the failure of a ballot measure in March that would have extended a quarter-cent sales tax until 2050, and the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent shutdowns and shelter-in-place orders.