Public records shed light on questionable spending at Memphis transit agency

Memphis Area Transit Authority executives spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on travel, hotels, and dinners while the agency battled financial issues that culminated in the announcement of a $60 million deficit last year, according to new reporting from WREG Memphis. 

Public records that WREG investigative reporter Jessica Gertler obtained with free legal support from an attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press show that MATA leadership racked up credit card charges at high-end steakhouses, bowling alleys, and a jewelry shop. The transactions from 2017 to 2024 include roughly $715,000 on domestic and international travel, $27,000 on refreshments at a Memphis Grizzlies box suite, and $1,100 at a designer ballpoint pen store, Gertler reported. 

All the while, MATA was cutting transit services and bus routes, citing a lack of funding. 

“So many people have told us that the wait times were getting worse and worse, and they were missing jobs and they couldn’t get to their doctor’s appointments or to the grocery store,” Gertler said in an interview. “​​Everyone knew that the agency was underfunded when you compared it to other cities, but no one knew it was this bad. And so these records that we got kind of put the pieces together for us.”

WREG and Gertler submitted a series of public records requests for MATA’s financial records, including its credit card statements, starting in September 2024 after agency officials suddenly announced a $60 million budget shortfall. But after an initial acknowledgement of her requests, Gertler said months went by with no response. 

In March, MATA fired its deputy CEO after the agency found over $800,000 in misspent funds on its credit card statements. At that point, Gertler said she knew the records she requested existed, so she turned to Paul McAdoo, the Reporters Committee’s Local Legal Initiative attorney for Tennessee, for help.  

On Gertler’s behalf, McAdoo sent a letter to MATA in early April, arguing that its nearly five-month delay to produce the requested records was a violation of Tennessee’s Public Records Act, which requires agencies to make records available “promptly” to anyone who requests them.

“By ignoring WREG’s requests and follow ups and failing to even provide a timeline for production, MATA has failed to meet its obligations under the TPRA,” McAdoo wrote.

The letter “really got the ball moving,” Gertler said. Soon after, MATA turned over its credit card statements, and later, a document that revealed the agency owed an unpaid balance of over $10 million to over 200 vendors. Gertler said the latest batch of records she obtained from MATA revealed its former CEO, Gary Rosenfeld, spent about $40,000 on international travel.

“Could that have gone to something else?” Gertler said of the travel expenses. “The former CEO argues whether or not it could, but I think that it’s critical information that taxpayers and the public deserve to know.”

Rosenfeld told WREG that his travel was for business purposes. He added that “Even if the travel had not happened, it would not impact operating funds” for the agency, which has been underfunded for years. And MATA’s interim CEO has said that his team will scrutinize wasteful spending and work to improve the rider experience.  

Gertler said agencies often stall in response to public records requests, leaving the public in the dark about what its local government is up to. McAdoo’s free legal help is a “great support system” to help WREG navigate these delays, she said.    

“We’re in a time right now where it feels like it’s getting harder and harder to get some information that the public deserves to know,” Gertler said. “Without [RCFP’s] support, I don’t think that we would have received this information.”