Dems to gov: Rush MTA fix
ALBANY — Even with New York facing a multibillion-dollar deficit, state legislative Democrats are calling on Gov. Cuomo to include a “fair and sustainable” revenue source for the cash-strapped MTA in his upcoming budget proposal.
The state Senate Democratic Conference on Friday sent a letter to Cuomo saying that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority funding issue needs to be a budget priority to ensure “a new generation of investment in our vital transit infrastructure.”
“The MTA crisis is real, and it is something that is now affecting the well-being of the entire region,” Senate Deputy Democratic Conference Leader Michael Gianaris of Queens told the Daily News.
“It’s as important a crisis as any we’re facing right now, and we should not finalize a state budget without providing for the reforms needed at the MTA.”
The Senate Democratic letter noted that subway delays have more than tripled over the past five years, rising to 67,000 this past May from about 20,000 monthly in 2012.
Billions of dollars will be needed to upgrade and modernize the subway system, the letter said.
“(The MTA) needs money to make a modernization plan a reality,” the letter said.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) has also recently said that finding a way to guarantee the MTA needed money will be a priority for his chamber in the coming year. Just what form that may take remains to be seen.
Cuomo has said he would propose some type of congestion-pricing plan that would charge motorists entering busy parts of Manhattan at peak hours, with the revenue generated going to the MTA.
Mayor de Blasio and Gianaris have each proposed adding a tax surcharge on the wealthy for the needed revenue.
Heastie recently said the idea of a millionaires’ tax is likely off the table because of the federal tax reform bill. But he has also said a millionaires’ tax, if imposed, should help fund the overall state budget, and not be directed to one area like mass transit.
Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-Westchester County), chairwoman of the Corporations, Authorities and Commissions Committee, which oversees the MTA, said there is consensus among her fellow Assembly Democrats that something needs to be done, though none yet on how to get there.
“We’re going to see what the governor proposes and then we’re going to debate,” Paulin said.
A Senate GOP spokesman had no comment.
Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi said, “We’re glad to know that the Legislature will join the governor’s call to give the MTA the stable funding stream it needs, and we continue to urge the city to do the right thing and partner with the state to fund their half of the subway action plan for the people of New York.”
De Blasio has said the increase in MTA funding should fall on the state, which controls the transit agency.