NY MTA, Desperate To Plug Big Budget Gap, Asks City To Pay For 2nd Ave Subway

[marmar]

(New York, NY – WNYC) The NY Metropolitan Transportation Authority says the city should pay it half a billion dollars for building the Second Avenue Subway. It’s only fair, the NY MTA reasons, when the city stands to gain a big boost in tax revenues as property values go up around the subway after its planned opening in 2016.

The proposal is one of nine different sources of funding the authority is counting on to plug a $9 billion gap in its $13.5 billion capital construction plan covering 2012-2015.

But Mayor Michael Bloomberg sounded unconvinced when asked on his weekly radio show about the NY MTA’s idea for revenue-sharing. “Let me check,” the mayor said sardonically. “I’ll call our finance director and see if taxes came in yesterday.”

Bloomberg said he preferred having the authority plug its budget gap with new revenue, like tolls on the East River Bridges. But that idea was most recently defeated by the New York State legislature in 2009. “We should find some ways to raise money for the MTA,” the mayor added. “Something that would encourage people to take mass transit so there’d be more fare payers.” ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://transportationnation.org/2011/07/29/ny-mta-desperate-to-plug-big-budget-gap-asks-city-to-pay-for-2nd-ave-subway/