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SUNDAY, AUGUST 24, 2008

TIMES HERALD-RECORD 47

BUSINESS

The MTA: Show me the money


he Metropolitan Transportation Authority depends on taxpayers to supply upward of 40 percent of the cost of running one of the worlds largest mass transit systems. Some of the dedicated taxes and subsidies are levied statewide; others are levied only in the MTAs 12-county service territory - which includes Orange County. 1 Heres a breakdown of last years $10.3 billion operating budget:

Times Herald-Record

BY JUDY RIFE

WHERE IT CAME FROM

WHERE IT WENT
Overtime 4% Health care 9% Pensions 8% Other labor 2%

Dedicated taxes 36% Fares and tolls 56% Local and state subsidies 8%

Payroll 38% Debt service 15%

Non-labor3 24%

BREAKING IT DOWN
Fares, tolls and other revenue: $5.7 billion 2
The MTA raised fares and tolls in March for the third time since 2003. The base subway and bus fare, bumped to $2 from $1.50 in 2003, didnt budge. Commuter rail fares jumped an average of 25 percent in 2003, 5 percent in 2005 and 4 percent this year.

Dedicated taxes: $3.7 billion2


The state Legislature not only enacts these taxes but also, in some instances, species how the MTA may spend the money from them. Lawmakers raised the sales tax and the mortgage recording tax in the 12 counties by 0.125 percent in 2005.

Local and state subsidies: $860 million 2


The MTA lobbies the state and the city for money every year and gets a different amount every year. Other subsidies represent contracts for special services and yet others, local operating assistance and station maintenance, represent formulas devised in Albany.

Mass transportation operating assistance: $1.6 billion


Represents a combination of four taxes. Two imposed only in the 12 counties, a 0.375 percent sales tax and temporary corporate 1 surcharges, and account for 90 percent of this category. Two imposed statewide, a petroleum business tax and corporate franchise taxes, account for the other 10 percent.

NYC Transit: $2.8 billion Long Island Rail Road: $479 million Metro-North Railroad: $477 million MTA Bridges and Tunnels: $1.3 billion MTA Bus: $140 million MTA Long Island Bus: $40 million MTA Staten Island Railway: $4 million Licensing, advertising, real estate: $480 million

Urban taxes: $894 million


Represents two taxes levied only in New York City on commercial real estate sales and mortgages in excess of $500,000.

New York City for MTA Bus: $245 million State operating assistance: $210 million Local operating assistance 1,5 (12 counties): $187 million Local station maintenance 1,6 (12 counties): $142 million Connecticut for Metro-North: $64 million Nassau County for MTA Long Island Bus: $11 million
4

Mortgage recording taxes: $664 million


Represents surcharges levied only in the 12 counties on borrowers and 1 lenders.

Mass transportation trust fund: $602 million


Represents 34 percent of statewide revenue from motor fuel taxes, motor vehicle fees and the rest of the petroleum business tax. Remainder of this fund goes to state highways, 63 percent, and other transit systems, 3 percent.

1 The MTAs 12-county service territory includes Orange, Rockland, Dutchess, Putnam, Westchester, Nassau, Suffolk and the five counties of New York City; 2 Numbers may not add up because of rounding; 3 Category includes fuel, materials and supplies, contracts for professional services, maintenance and other operations, insurance, claims and general business expenses; 4 Includes one-time subsidy of $20 million for commuter railroads; 5 Orange Countys share was $146,000; 6 Orange Countys share was $435,000 Source: Metropolitan Transportation Authority Times Herald-Record/DIANE CHARLES

MTA: Needs stable and reliable funding sources to flourish


Continued from preceding page
state Sen. Tom Morahan, RNew City, who thinks suburban commuters and taxpayers take a heavy blow for the team. We understand the economics of the situation, said Morahan. But its a complicated situation and there are no easy answers and Im the first to admit I dont have them. The MTAs financial mess, in simplest terms, is this: The agency has a yearly operating budget and a five-year capital budget. Revenue for the $10 billion operating budget is raised through fares and tolls, dedicated taxes and subsidies. Revenue for the $21 billion capital budget, which runs through 2009, is raised through state and federal aid programs and by selling bonds. As a result, the MTA, which raised fares and tolls in March, is proposing another increase next July to offset a yawning deficit. The commercial real estate market in New York City has collapsed, taking a big hunk of change for the MTA with it, and the cost of electricity and diesel fuel to run all those buses, trains and subways is up, up and away. Its the sort of double whammy that illustrates how the MTA is too heavily reliant on these boom-bust kinds of taxes, said Henderson. It needs some funding sources that are stable and reliable even in an economic downturn. er who cowed the state Legislature into adopting many of the taxes that continue to fund the MTA today and who devised the agencys first five-year capital plan to keep decay at bay. Theres nobody better than Dick Ravitch to do this, said Gerald Benjamin, an associate vice president at SUNY New Paltz and an expert on state government. He saved the MTA in the eighties and he understands the system and the financial situation from a perspective of three decades. Beyond the obvious everything is on the table and everybody is probably going to pay more Ravitch has kept a lid on the commissions work. Benjamin, however, thinks Ravitch will be hard-pressed to simply recommend more of the same higher fares and tolls, higher taxes and subsidies because the MTAs needs are longterm. Theres a compelling need for new sources of revenue, said Benjamin. Which is why I dont think congestion pricing is a dead issue.

Ravitch to the rescue?


Into this thankless thicket comes Patersons commission and its chairman, Richard Ravitch, the lawyer who pulled the MTA back from the abyss in the 1980s when the systems decline was such that few New Yorkers considered it safe or reliable. Ravitch also is the blunt talk-

Quick fix nixed

Congestion pricing, at least

See MTA, next page

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