Outer-Borough Voices: Overhaul MTA Financing

Officials and residents of New York City's Staten Island borough on Wednesday night called for an overhaul of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's financing mechanisms, arguing that Staten Island and other outer boroughs are shortchanged.

Speaking before Chairman Thomas Prendergast and several board members and other officials during a hearing at the College of Staten Island on proposed fare and toll increases, they called for major initiatives such as tolls on the now-free East River bridges into Manhattan and further aid from city and state officials to make the system more equitable.

East River tolling is the lynchpin of the MoveNY plan championed by "Gridlock Sam" Schwartz, a former New York City transportation commissioner.

"I support the MoveNY plan and what Sam Schwartz is doing. Sam has the transit chops," Allen Cappelli, the lone Staten Island representative on the MTA board, said in an interview at Springer Concert Hall.

Local officials objected to the proposed toll hike on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge between Staten Island and Brooklyn to $16 for non E-ZPass toll transponder users, although Staten Island residents using E-ZPass would pay $5.74, up from the current $5.50. They say that Staten Island gets little in return while they subsidize Manhattan-centric megaprojects including the Second Avenue subway and East Side Access.

The MTA is one of the largest municipal issuers, with $34.4 billion of debt. The state required biennial fare and toll increases with its 2009 aid package.

Borough President James Oddo warned that debt load could crush the agency. Between 2000 and 2013, he said, debt service has risen 161%, while health-care, pension and energy costs during that time have spiked 86%, 306% and 174%, respectively.

"This is the arithmetic and it has no mercy," said Oddo. "Let's end this ridiculous merry-go-round."

The MTA has offered two fare-hike proposals, each at 4% over two years, with MetroCard pricing a variable. The authority will hold its final public hearing Thursday night at the Brooklyn College Walt Whitman Theater. The MTA's board is scheduled to vote on the increases next month.

"A lot of people do feel that it's a fait accompli, but it's not," Prendergast told reporters. "The board has to go through its process."

Prendergast said the authority will resume its dialogue with state officials about its proposed four-year capital program in January, when the legislature reconvenes. The $32 billion plan has a $15 billion funding gap, which prompted a state review board to reject the plan without prejudice.

"That stops the clock," said Prendergast.

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Transportation industry New York
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