Gov’s quiet MTA slash
THE SUFFERING subway, bus and rail system may have less money to move New Yorkers.
A line tucked deep in Gov. Cuomo’s executive budget from last month calls for a $65 million cut to a chunk of money the state gives to the MTA — down to $244 million from $309 million last year.
The 21% cut, if it survives the budget process, would hit the MTA at a time when commuters are fuming over frequent delays, spotty service, overcrowding and constant fare hikes.
“If Gov. Cuomo wants to take credit for opening the Second Ave. subway, he also has to take responsibility of the day-to-day operations in the rest of the subway system,” said John Raskin, director of the Riders Alliance.
The money from the state’s general fund is supposed to keep the MTA whole after the state in 2011 slashed a politically unpopular payroll tax on businesses in the region served by the transit network.
“This funding is based only on a promise,” Raskin said. “We had a fear that a moment like this would
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come to pass, where the governor is proposing to break that promise.”
The Riders Alliance and about 20 commuters will rally with lawmakers at the Capitol Monday to get the Legislature to reverse the cut.
“We want more service and better transit options. The MTA always says they don’t have the money for it,” said Assemblywoman Nily Rozic (D-Queens), who will be at the rally.
“We can’t be funneling money away from the system.”
The MTA is also banking on the money — in its latest budget, it’s assuming that the reimbursement will be $311 million a year.
The payroll tax, meanwhile, brought the MTA more than $1.3 billion in the 2016 fiscal year.
State budget division spokesman Morris Peters said the MTA is actually receiving an extra net $16.7 million, compared to the previous year, due to increases in tax revenue and other types of aid to the transit agency.
He did not explain why the contribution from the state’s general fund needed to be cut.
“It takes some kind of math to call an increase a cut,” Peters said. “MTA revenues from the payroll mobility tax are increasing by $17 million in this budget — part of a $30 million total increase in operating support.”
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