Metro was audited and it was revealed to the IRS that twelve organizations -Arroyo Time Bank being one of them- participated in BTAP as businesses and therefore did not qualify for the Metro Pass discount.
In a letter to all participants of the Metro Pass 80% discount program, the committee stated that they cannot continue participating in the BTAP program in 2015 as they do not have a 941 form.
Here are excerpts from the letter:
We never qualified for the program and Metro should not have made an exception for us in the first place. We were lucky to be able to do it for three years. They are kind enough to let our 2014 participants use their passes for the rest of the year. They were going to cancel them right away and refund the last few months. They are even considering shutting down BTAP program all together which would affect thousands of riders.
On the bright side there was some openness to the possibility of
instituting a new program sometime in the future designed for organizations like us that could reward volunteerism and be legal for non-profits and associations to participate in. They asked us to put it in writing and they would consider it. Therefore it wouldn’t be prudent to start protesting at this point knowing their hands are tied yet they may be willing to implement a custom program.As for those of you who have already paid for your 2015 pass we will be mailing you back checks and refunding your Pay Pal payments next week. We are sorry for this unfortunate cancellation and want to thank the Time Bank Metro team for all the hard work they put into organizing and for all the participants for fulfilling the requirements. It is regretful that this happened but we are optimistic that there may be an opportunity to revive it in a more permanent way in the future.
With gratitude and commitment,
Autumn, Janine, Nancy, and Sarah
Board of Directors
Arroyo Sustainable Economies Community Organization
Read a previous article about 2015 Metro Pass 80% Discount.
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