MTA fi scal tsunami requires federal relief
oped
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BRONX TIMES REPORTER,12 JULY 31-AUGUST 6, 2020 BTR
BY PATRICK J. FOYE
With the Senate back in Washington
working on another COVID-19 relief
package, we at the MTA are fending
off a fi scal tsunami. We’re simply
trying to survive the rest of this year,
and the next one, with our fi nances
mostly intact. But to do that, we need
help and we need it now – in the form of
another $4 billion in federal aid to get
through 2020.
Without additional federal relief,
we will be forced to slash and burn,
including possible reductions in force
and service, as we navigate the most
severe fi nancial crisis the MTA has
ever faced. Everything is on the table:
fare and toll increases, defi cit fi nancing
and even delaying our historic
Capital Program.
We are not crying wolf. The fi scal
tsunami that is now crashing down
on the MTA is very real, and should
concern all New Yorkers. Our organization
is losing about $200 million a
week in revenues, from losses in fares,
tolls, subsidies, and COVID-related expenses.
To put that in perspective, we
spend approximately $300 million a
week just to operate the MTA. All told,
we’re facing a projected, aggregate $16
billion defi cit through 2024.
We’ve been doing our part to balance
the books on our own – implementing
a hiring freeze and identifying
more than $1.1 billion in budget
savings in 2021 and $5.13 billion in
savings overall through 2024. Those
fi gures include $340 million in newly
identifi ed annual recurring savings,
from reductions in overtime, consultant
contracts, and other non-personnel
expense reductions. This is on
top of $2.8 billion that we had already
trimmed from the budget over the past
few years, pre-pandemic.
But even with emergency federal
aid and these expense reduction efforts,
we will need to do more. There’s
no question that we will be forced to
make cuts; the only question is how
extreme. Only Congress can answer
that.
Our precarious fi scal situation
should raise alarms across the country.
The New York metropolitan region
accounts for nearly 10 percent of
the national GDP, meaning there is no
full economic recovery without a robust
MTA. Additionally, businesses
throughout New York and the nation
benefi t from contracts with North
America’s largest transportation system.
This is not a partisan issue. Business
leaders, labor leaders and elected
offi cials from all parties have recognized
the gravity of the MTA’s fi nancial
challenges and called on Congress
to step up. Senator Schumer and the
New York Congressional delegation
support MTA funding.
On Friday, we exhausted the $4 billion
allocated to the MTA in March
under the CARES Act. We can’t let the
progress we’ve made in recent years
go down the drain, plunging the MTA
into the service failures and delays
New Yorkers were subject to in the bad
old days of the 1970s and early 1980s.
We need our national representatives
to act urgently and responsibly
— time is running short.
Patrick Foye is the Chairman and
CEO of the New York Metropolitan
Transportation Authority (MTA)
Disclaimer: The views expressed
in all op-eds are those of the author,
and are not necessarily the views of the
Bronx Times or its staff.
Photo by Todd Maisel
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