Phoenix City Council to Vote on Funds for Payout to Former Valley Metro CEO

The City of Phoenix will call a special Policy meeting after Wednesday's Formal City Council meeting to address stripping $64,000 of funds from Valley Metro. The $64,000 represents the city's proportional share of the $180,000 payout Valley Metro plans to hand over to Steve Banta. The decision to vote on this item came after three councilmen, Michael Nowakowski, Jim Waring and Sal DiCiccio, sent a letter to the City Manager requesting a vote be taken at the next council meeting regarding the payout. "This is great news and gives the Council the opportunity to protect Phoenix taxpayers from bad decisions. If politicians want to hand over $180,000 to a person accused of fraud and under investigation by the state, then they should use their own money. It's time to stop this insanity," said Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio. Banta was the former head of Valley Metro and currently is under an Attorney General investigation after an audit alleged he and his staff misspent approximately $315,000 of Valley Metro funds, with more than $270,000 in spending from Banta himself.