New York Gov. David Paterson yesterday appointed 12 members to a blue ribbon commission to study the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's funding problems.
The Commission on Metropolitan Transportation Authority Financing is charged with developing a long-term funding proposal that looks at projected budget shortfalls over the next 10 years and estimating the MTA's capital needs through 2018. The commission will propose funding actions that could include getting more state subsidies, congestion pricing, raising fares and tolls, and making operations more efficient. The commission's findings and recommendations are due by Dec. 5.
Paterson announced the creation of the commission, headed by former MTA chairman Richard Ravitch, in April. That followed the state Assembly's rejection of a congestion pricing proposal that would have backed $4.5 billion of bonds for the MTA's proposed six-year, $29 billion capital program that was already $9 billion underfunded.
"The congestion pricing debate highlighted the need for sustainable funding for the MTA," Paterson said in a press release. "This commission will help ensure that the MTA has the resources it needs to expand and maintain a mass transit system that can increase regional prosperity."
The commission members include: MTA executive director and chief operating officer Elliot Sander; state budget director Laura Anglin; New York City budget director and MTA board member Mark Page; former MTA finance director and current Banc of America Securities LLC principal Kim Paparello Vaccari; Durst Organization president Douglas Durst; former MTA president of capital construction Mysore Nagaraja; New York State AFL-CIO president Denis Hughes; Con Edison chairman Kevin Burke; Fordham University president Joseph McShane; National Grid U.S. chairman Robert Catell; Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP partner Steven Polan; and Peter Goldmark, director of the Environmental Defense Fund's climate and air program.
