2

MTA Bailout Bill

Posted by
on May 6th, 2009 at 6:29 pm

Here is a link to the actual MTA bailout bill for those who are interested in reading it. Thanks to Politicker NY’s Jimmy Vielkind for posting a link to it.

xoxo Transit Blogger

You might enjoy reading these related entries:
MTA Finances
4

Doomsday Has Been Averted For Now!

Posted by
on May 5th, 2009 at 11:06 pm

Gov. Paterson must be smiling as his demand of a bill being passed has been met. Although it was not by the end of Tuesday as he had originally request, he should be satisfied knowing an agreement is in place. Lets get the details from Politicker NY’s Jimmy Vielkind:

With exhausted relief and little fanfare, David Paterson and legislative leaders announced an agreement on a $2.26 billion bailout bill for the M.T.A. during a Red Room press conference this evening. It is expected to be passed by legislators tomorrow.

“This agreement will allow the M.T.A. to continue its critical infrastructure repair programs and will ensure also that they will be able to do that through 2011 unimpeded,” Paterson said. The plan is the product of months of negotiations and back-and-forth, but is based largely on a framework put forward by the State Senate last month. The bill will contain:

— $1.5 billion from a payroll tax of 34 cents per $100 of payroll at every employer in the 12-county M.T.A. service area. To satisfy two holdout suburban legislators, a provision will mandate that the state reimburse school districts for what they contribute to that plan

— $500 million from a 10 percent fare increase. The base fare for a single ride in the transit system will rise from $2 to $2.25, but exactly how prices for monthly and weekly passes change must still be sorted out by the authority’s board. This hike is less than the one laid out in a doomsday scenario enacted by the M.T.A. Paterson also said that there will be additional fare hikes in 2011 and 2013 of 7.5 percent

— $85 million from a fifty-cent surcharge on taxi rides in the 12-county service area

— $130 million from a $25 fee on motor vehicle registration in the 12-county service area

— $10.5 million from an increase in the fee on driver’s licenses in the 12-county service area

— $35 million from an increase in the tax on rental cars

Of the overall amount raised, $400 million will be diverted to fund $6.5 billion of capital projects over the next two years. No money in this package is being set aside for upstate roads and bridges; Paterson and legislative leaders pledged this will be dealt with this fall.

Click here for the complete report.

Now lets take a look at the New York Times report from William Neuman & Nicholas Confessore:

After months of stalled negotiations among state leaders, Gov. David A. Paterson announced on Tuesday a long-awaited deal to rescue the Metropolitan Transportation Authority that will hold the increase in the base subway fare this year to 25 cents.

Under the deal, the base fare for a single bus or subway ride would rise to $2.25 from $2. The cost of a monthly MetroCard would probably rise to about $89 from $81, according to officials in the Legislature. Other fares and tolls, including tickets on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad, would go up about 10 percent.

The agreement would prevent a 20 to 30 percent increase in fares and tolls that was set to go into effect within weeks, and stave off deep service cuts.

The plan calls for a payroll tax, a surcharge on taxi rides and increases in vehicle-registration and license fees and the auto-rental tax.

Officials said that the rescue plan will help the authority get through a financial crisis in which it faced growing budget deficits, made even worse as tax revenues shrink in the slumping economy.

It will also provide financing for at least the first two years of the authority’s 2010 to 2014 capital program, which pays for key maintenance and modernization projects needed to keep the transit and commuter rail system in good repair.

The breakthrough to limit the fare hike came after months of agonizing stalemate and brinksmanship in Albany. The base subway and bus fare was scheduled to rise to $2.50 on May 31; monthly MetroCards would have increased to $103.

The plan announced on Tuesday calls for fares and tolls to rise again in 2011 and 2013, each time by enough to increase revenues from those sources by 7.5 percent.

Click here for the complete report.

While the passage won’t be official until tomorrow, I will answer the question for those who might wonder how I feel. I am absolutely livid that this proposal will pass. This proposal fails miserably at creating sustainable long term solutions for funding the MTA. The fact this bill will include money for the MTA Capital Program in the short term does nothing to sway me to support it.

Now it is a virtual lock that we will see politicians accepting praise for “saving the MTA & its riders” when in reality they have done nothing but push back the inevitable. The time is already here for Albany to create sustainable long term funding solutions. By pushing back “doomsday”, Albany does nothing but add more pressure to create long term solutions while dealing with a budget deficit that has grown even bigger.

So I will remain with the belief that starving off the “doomsday scenario” is not a cause for celebration but the exact opposite, a cause for sadness. The truth is in the numbers & if you really believe that, Albany’s proposal to “save the MTA” is a few too many dollars short…….

xoxo Transit Blogger

You might enjoy reading these related entries:
MTA Finances
0

Senate Democrats Reach Tentative Deal

Posted by
on May 5th, 2009 at 12:42 am

The news was hot & heavy on Monday regarding a financial package for the MTA being passed in Albany. When I last left you, Gov. Paterson was demanding the Legislature vote on & subsequently pass the latest proposal by the end of Tuesday. In the meantime Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith was working on swaying support from the 2 Democrats holding up any proposal being passed.

His swaying worked as he emerged from a closed door meeting & announced that the 2 Senators were on board. Jimmy Veilkind of Politicker NY has more in this report:

Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith emerged from a three-hour closed-door conference with the last two members of his conference holding up an M.T.A. bailout bill and announced that they had reached an agreement with each other about what the legislation should contain. Now it’s question of whether the Senate Democrats can get the governor and the Assembly to go along with what they pass.

“The governor proposed language that said he would reimburse the school districts,” Smith said. “We heard that language, and we want to talk to him and be clear about exactly what reimbursement means, and specifically want to make sure we’re comfortable with the fact that these school districts will be held harmless and it won’t fluctuate based on circumstances, and that’s why the language will be very important.”

State Senators Brian Foley and Craig Johnson both said they would sign on to a “hold harmless” proposal. With their support, and assuming the rest of the conference decides to go along with the refashioned legislation, the bill would have the requisite 32 votes to pass in the Senate.

Click here for the complete report.

However the news does not end there as a piece in the New York Times looks at how this package may omit money for the MTA’s Capital Program. Here is more from Nicholas Confessore:

In what appeared to be an effort to lower expectations for any bailout of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Gov. David A. Paterson said on Monday that he did not expect a plan currently being formulated by the State Senate to include enough money to cover the authority’s long-term capital needs. Instead, Mr. Paterson said, it would merely help avert service cuts and fare hikes scheduled to take effect at the end of May.

Tellingly, Mr. Paterson also suggested that he had always favored addressing the authority’s operating deficit first and its capital needs later — a suggestion at odds with his ongoing advocacy for the bailout plan prepared by Richard Ravitch, the former authority chairman. That plan would have used tolls and payroll taxes to provide both a long-term source of capital and a short-term infusion of operating cash. A modified version is supported by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, but does not have enough support to pass the Senate.

“My feeling all along has been that we should address the capital plan later in the year,” Mr. Paterson said at a news conference in the Capitol. “The credit markets really are not accommodating the type of measures that we would have to take to try to solve the capital plan now. It would be better to wait later in the year.”

Click here for the complete report.

Readers of this blog know my feeling on these proposals & what should actually be done. I am glad to see I am not alone in this as similar transit advocates have spoke out against the proposal & its failure to address such things as the MTA’s Capital Program. Jimmy Vielkind has more in this report for Politicker NY:

Even if it is palatable enough to pass both houses of the legislature, the plan to bail out the M.T.A. that David Paterson formally unveiled this weekend is not getting a warm welcome from the alliance of labor leaders and transit advocates that pushed firmly for the Ravitch plan. They write, with charming understatement, that the plan “may not” adequately address the system’s capital needs.

Click here for the complete report.

I would like to take this moment to acknowledge a responder to the New York Times report by Nicholas Confessore. I usually blast the idiocy that comes from responders to MTA related articles. However I want to commend Ariel who showcased the fact they understand what is & is not needed at this time:

Passing this half-cooked plan is exactly what we don’t need. It will lead to more months of lobbying and political squabble.

Either pass the Ravitch/ Silver plan fully or go through with the doomsday plan. Albany needs to stop postponing their problems. Doing so year after year is what led the MTA to get to this point in the first place and won’t do anything to get them out.

This sentiment is one I have shared for sometime here on Transit Blogger. Albany seriously needs to get this right as so much is at stake. If we have to suffer from Doomsday for some time until sustainable solutions are created, so be it. I understand that this sentiment won’t be shared by many. However I understand that for the greater good of everyone, temporary suffering might be needed to make long term relief a reality.

xoxo Transit Blogger

You might enjoy reading these related entries:
MTA Finances
2

Gov. Paterson Wants Action By Tuesday

Posted by
on May 3rd, 2009 at 11:42 pm

When I last blogged, Gov. Paterson had a “new idea” that would help the State Senate pass a funding package for the MTA. As we all read, the idea consisted of giving money to school districts to cover the cost of a new payroll tax. So basically his “new idea” was a rebate.

I commented on how it was of no surprise that the latest idea was not earth shattering & did nothing to sway my opinion. The current MTA proposal should not pass due to it massively failing to address the core funding problems that have plagued the transit agency.

Over the weekend, Gov. Paterson was on the offensive in terms of rallying support for his “new idea”. He successfully converted Senators Suzi Oppenheimer & Andrea-Stewart Cousins with his idea. Lets look into this more via a report from Glenn Blain, Kenneth Lovett & Pete Donohue of the New York Daily News:

Gov. Paterson’s proposed change to an MTA bailout won over two Democratic senators who could provide pivotal support for the long overdue plan.

With a razor thin 32-30 majority, the Democratic Senate leadership needs every vote it can get to save straphangers from huge fare hikes and service cuts.

Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer and Sen. Andrea-Stewart Cousins, of Westchester, had objected to a payroll tax funding mass transit because it would increase costs on school districts.

Paterson earlier this week suggested increasing state aid to schools to offset higher tax bills.

“If they make the school districts whole, I’m on board,” Oppenheimer said.

Click here for the complete report.

However supporters of this proposal should not celebrate yet as the bickering between Albany bigwigs is starting to boil over. Although Gov. Paterson has tried to downplay the feud between himself, Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, & Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, the frustration he is having with them is clearly evident.

The latest move came from Sheldon Silver who threw up concerns about Gov. Paterson’s idea to rebate school districts. As noted in the Daily News report, he is concerned about a precedent being set with the idea. However this did not stop the governor from demanding a vote & subsequent passage by the Legislature by the end of Tuesday. Lets start with William Neuman’s report about this courtesy of the New York Times:

Gov. David A. Paterson called on Saturday for the Legislature to vote early this week on a financial rescue plan for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority despite being unsure if there were enough votes to pass the measure in the Senate.

Mr. Paterson said the authority’s financial situation has deteriorated so rapidly that the rescue plan would no longer provide enough money to address the authority’s long-term fiscal needs. But limiting a fare and toll increase and halting deep service cuts would be enough for now, he said.

“What I’m saying is, this is not a plan that I think is going to get a blue ribbon,” Mr. Paterson said in a telephone interview. “But what it does is it solves the huge immediate problem of the anxiety and fear that commuters have over the shocking increase in fares and the prospect of widespread service cuts.”

If the rescue package were to pass now, Mr. Paterson said, he would try to get the Legislature to come up with more money later in the year to finance the authority’s five-year capital spending program as well as the state’s five-year highway and bridge construction program.

Click here for the complete report.

Now lets take a look at the report filed by Glenn Blain, Kenneth Lovett, & Samuel Goldsmith of the New York Daily News:

Gov. Paterson is demanding the Legislature vote on his proposed MTA bailout plan before day’s end on Tuesday to avoid a doomsday scenario for New York’s straphangers.

The governor presented a modified solution to the Senate Democrats’ bailout plan last week to avoid double-digit fare hikes and sweeping service cuts before the May 31 deadline.

Paterson’s frustration boiled up a day after Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver set another potential roadblock to the governor’s plan.

“It’s been 60 days of wrangling,” Paterson told the Daily News Saturday. “It’s time to take action.

“Clearly this [plan] helps level the fare increases and discontinue the MTA’s draconian service cuts,” Paterson said.

Click here for the complete report.

I for one can’t say I am surprised at the latest bickering in the feud between these 3 Albany bigwigs. As far as Sheldon Silver is concerned, I feel his point about setting a bad precedent has validity to it. Lets say his concern is not valid, can anyone legitimately say that this “new idea” of Gov. Paterson is the answer to long term funding solutions for the MTA?

Just take a minute & think about all these proposals that have come from Albany. When you do, start to do the math & see if it comes close to solving the long standing funding issues of the MTA. I can save you a ton of time by telling you that they fail miserably. So you now understand why I do not support the latest proposal & hope it fails to pass.

Last I check, the Ravitch Commission was supposed to come up with sustainable funding solutions for the MTA. While I felt the plan was a dud & failed to live up to its hype, it was by far the best solutions brought to the table. This is saying a lot considering how I found it left a lot to be desired.

Albany needs to come up with legitimate solutions to the problems they are mostly responsible for. Anything less & they will fail not only the MTA, its riding public, & constituents, but themselves as “so called leaders”.

xoxo Transit Blogger

You might enjoy reading these related entries:
MTA Finances
0

Service Diversions 05-01

Posted by
on May 1st, 2009 at 8:14 am

I have just updated the service diversions page with the latest scheduled diversions for the weekend & upcoming week (and beyond in some cases). Don’t forget to check in for any changes to the page. I also suggest printing out a copy of the page to use while riding the system. Have a safe & wonderful weekend!

xoxo Transit Blogger

You might enjoy reading these related entries:
Service Diversions