CLEVELAND, Ohio - RTA believes it has a plan to solve next year’s budget problems within its means, but beyond then, some officials are starting to say out loud that there may be a need for a tax increase.

Such an increase would only come with voter approval.

But even going to the ballot would be a drastic change in the way the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority has operated since its founding a half-century ago.

Its principal source of local tax revenue has been a 1% sales tax approved by Cuyahoga County voters as RTA was being created in 1975.

That rate has been unchanged since, though the dollars from the sales tax have increased with inflation over the years. It covers about three-fourths of RTA’s operating budget, or about nine times the $31.5 million expected to be ge

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