According to new estimates made by MTA officials yesterday, the broke transit agency may be anywhere from $50 million to $72 million further in debt. That puts the MTA's grand total deficit at somewhere around $450 million, even after implementing service cuts and laying off station agents. WTF MTA?
The fluctuation is based on tax revenue. The MTA makes much of its money from taxes on real estate transactions or payrolls, but the money isn't coming in as predicted earlier this year. However, officials say the numbers are still up in the air, so nothing is being done to revise the budget yet. Chief financial officer Robert Foran said projections are unclear, and “we shouldn’t just take numbers from the state."
But this announcement comes right after Chairman Jay Walder announced his $26.3 billion, five-year plan for the transit authority, which the MTA is almost $10 billion short on paying. The city would be able to fund the first two years of the plan, but say they "will work with our partners in government to identify full funding for the projects scheduled to be done in the last three years."
However, Walder believes the plan would make using MTA services more enjoyable for everyone. Currently, any station repairs require a station shutdown and overhaul, rather than piecemeal fixes that would keep the stations in working condition. Under the new plan, MTA workers would be able to fix individual problems that would keep stations open and in good condition. “The M.T.A. has often failed to deliver affordable, timely benefits to customers,” Walder told City Room. The plan also promises 20,000 new jobs annually over nine years and $37 billion in economic activity.
