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First a fare hike. Then a parcel tax. 

That’s the plan of AC Transit officials who are struggling with a projected $30 million budget shortfall and are entertaining service cuts that could affect the agency’s more than 235,000 bus riders. 

Thursday night, the transit board voted to put a five-year parcel tax on the November ballot, asking homeowners from Richmond to Hayward to cough up $24 annually for the struggling bus agency. 

While the parcel tax alone won’t bridge next year’s projected budget gap, board members say the revenues will help minimize service cuts, particularly in the northern part of Alameda County. 

AC Transit’s tax measure will come alongside three citywide measures asking Berkeley voters for more taxes. The city measures, which include funding for pedestrian safety, a new animal shelter and seismic retrofits at old City Hall cumulatively will cost the average homeowner about $72 a year, according to the city manager’s office. 

Thursday’s action on the AC Transit tax measure follows a decision this spring to raise fares for bus rides from $1.35 to $1.50. The new fares are slated to take effect Sept. 1. 

AC Transit board members blame a weak economy for their recent cash problems. 

“The economy, being stalled as it is, has caused sales tax revenues to be lower than what was projected a year or two ago,” said spokesperson Mike Mills.  

Much of the agency’s funding comes from Measure B, which was passed in 2000 and implemented a half-cent sales tax to help fund countywide transportation projects. It has not provided the anticipated revenues, Mills said. 

Steve Geller, member of the Bus Riders Union and Berkeley Ecological and Safety Transportation Coalition, says that this year is a bad time to ask voters to pay more taxes, but that the tax is necessary. 

“I’m unhappy that they did this, but I guess they had no choice,” he said. 

AC Transit officials cited a survey by consultant Bregman & Associates Thursday that said voter approval of the parcel tax was likely.