New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's possible $65 million line-item cut in aid to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority triggered heated debate among board members.
Cuomo's executive budget, which the legislature is debating, calls for eliminating the differential the state provided the past six years for a reduction in the payroll mobility tax.
"This cut undermines the hard work and efficiency by this board and this agency," said board member Veronica Vanterpool at Tuesday's finance committee meeting in lower Manhattan. She urged MTA administrators and board members to lean on Albany lawmakers.
Chief financial officer Robert Foran, however, said the authority still has
Finance panel chairman Lawrence Schwartz, a former Cuomo chief of staff, took a more measured stance. "There is still an opportunity to talk to a lot of people," he said. "There are challenges to every budget."
The MTA, one of the largest municipal issuers with $37.1 billion of debt, intends to sell $400 million worth of bonds in two sales during March.
Its planned $300 million sale of transportation refunding bonds will pay off a line of credit that provided $200 million of interim funding for Series 2016A-2 of bond anticipation notes and to refinance other debt. Jefferies will lead the transaction.
Later next month, the MTA will implement a mandatory tender and remarket $100 million of Series 2002D-2a transportation revenue variable rate refunding bonds because its interest-rate period is set to expire. RBC Capital Markets will lead the transaction.
The MTA on Feb. 14 sold $700 million of Series 2017A transportation revenue bond anticipation notes to finance approved transit and commuter projects. The competitive sale featured 12 tranches involving nine firms with increments ranging from $25 million to $250 million. This enabled wider underwriter participation, said finance manager Patrick McCoy.
The fixed-rate, tax-exempt notes had an all-in true interest cost of 0.951% and a final maturity of Oct. 2, 2017. Nixon Peabody LLP and D. Seaton and Associates were co-bond counsel and Public Resources Advisory Group and Rockfleet Financial Services were co-financial advisors.
The MTA also closed a $350 million sale last week of dedicated tax fund bonds, led by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Authority officials are meeting with design and environmental consultants to establish milestones for the second phase of the Second Avenue subway line, said the MTA's capital construction president.
"We'll work out a schedule that will show us when we'll have a shovel in the ground," Michael Horodniceanu told board members.
The initial cost estimate for the second phase, to run from 96th Street and Second Avenue to 125th Street and Lexington Avenue, is $6 billion.
The first phase opened on Dec. 31, and consists of four extended Q line stops from 63rd Street and Lexington Avenue to 96th Street.
