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SUNDAY, AUGUST 24, 2008 TIMES HERALD-RECORD 47

BUSINESS

Fares, tolls and otherrevenue: $5.7 billion 2

The MTA raised fares and tolls in

March for the third time since 2003.

The base subway and bus fare,bumped to $2 from $1.50 in 2003,

didnt budge. Commuter rail fares

jumped an average of 25 percent

in 2003, 5 percent in 2005 and 4

percent this year.

NYC Transit: $2.8 billion

Long Island Rail Road:

$479 million

Metro-North Railroad: $477 million

MTA Bridges and Tunnels:

$1.3 billion

MTA Bus: $140 million

MTA Long Island Bus: $40 million

MTA Staten Island Railway:

$4 million

Licensing, advertising, real estate:

$480 million

The MTA: Show me the moneyBY JUDY RIFE

Times Herald-Record

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority

depends on taxpayers to supply upward of

40 percent of the cost of running one of the

worlds largest mass transit systems. Some

of the dedicated taxes and subsidies are levied statewide;

others are levied only in the MTAs 12-county service

territory - which includes Orange County. 1 Heres abreakdown of last years $10.3 billion operating budget:

WHERE IT WENT

Payroll38%

Overtime 4%

Health care9%

Pensions8%

Other labor2%

Non-labor3

24%

Debtservice15%

BREAKING IT DOWN

Local and state subsidies:$860 million 2

The MTA lobbies the state and the

city for money every year and gets a

different amount every year. Othersubsidies represent contracts for

special services and yet others, local

operating assistance and station

maintenance, represent formulas

devised in Albany.

New York City for MTA Bus:

$245 million

State operating assistance:4

$210 million

Local operating assistance

(12 counties):1,5

$187 million

Local station maintenance

(12 counties):1,6

$142 million

Connecticut for Metro-North:

$64 million

Nassau County for MTA Long

Island Bus: $11 million

1 The MTAs 12-county service territor y includes Orange, Rockland, Dutchess, Putnam, Westchester, Nassau, Suffolk and the five counties of New York City; 2 Numbers may not add up because of rounding; 3 Category includes

fuel, materials and supplies, contracts for professional services, maintenance and other operations, insurance, claims and general business expenses; 4 Includes one-time subsidy of $20 million for commuter railroads; 5 Orange

Countys share was $146,000; 6 Orange Countys share was $435,000

Source: Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Dedicated taxes: $3.7 billion2

The state Legislature not only enacts these taxes but also, in some

instances, specifies how the MTA may spend the money from them.

Lawmakers raised the sales tax and the mortgage recording tax in the

12 counties by 0.125 percent in 2005.Mass transportation operating assistance: $1.6 billion

Represents a combination of four taxes. Two imposed only in the

12 counties, a 0.375 percent sales tax and temporary corporate

surcharges, and account for 90 percent of this category.1

Two imposed

statewide, a petroleum business tax and corporate franchise taxes,

account for the other 10 percent.

Urban taxes: $894 million

Represents two taxes levied only in New York City on commercial real

estate sales and mortgages in excess of $500,000.

Mortgage recording taxes: $664 million

Represents surcharges levied only in the 12 counties on borrowers andlenders.

1

Mass transportation trust fund: $602 million

Represents 34 percent of statewide revenue from motor fuel taxes,

motor vehicle fees and the rest of the petroleum business tax.

Remainder of this fund goes to state highways, 63 percent, and other

transit systems, 3 percent.

WHERE IT CAME FROM

Faresand tolls

56%

Dedicatedtaxes

36%

Localand statesubsidies

8%

Times Herald-Record/DIANE CHARLES

MTA: Needs stable and reliable funding sources to flourish

state Sen. Tom Morahan, R-New City, who thinks suburbancommuters and taxpayers takea heavy blow for the team.

We understand the econom-ics of the situation, said Mo-rahan. But its a complicated

situation and there are no easyanswers and Im the first toadmit I dont have them.

The MTAs financial mess,in simplest terms, is this: Theagency has a yearly operatingbudget and a five-year capi-tal budget. Revenue for the$10 billion operating budget israised through fares and tolls,

dedicated taxes and subsidies.Revenue for the $21 billion cap-ital budget, which runs through2009, is raised through stateand federal aid programs andby selling bonds.

As a result, the MTA, whichraised fares and tolls in March,is proposing another increase

next July to offset a yawningdeficit. The commercial realestate market in New York Cityhas collapsed, taking a big hunkof change for the MTA with it,and the cost of electricity anddiesel fuel to run all those bus-es, trains and subways is up, upand away.

Its the sort of double wham-

my that illustrates how theMTA is too heavily reliant onthese boom-bust kinds of tax-es, said Henderson. It needssome funding sources that arestable and reliable even in aneconomic downturn.

Ravitch to the rescue?

Into this thankless thick-et comes Patersons commis-sion and its chairman, RichardRavitch, the lawyer who pulledthe MTA back from the abyssin the 1980s when the systemsdecline was such that few NewYorkers considered it safe orreliable.

Ravitch also is the blunt talk-

er who cowed the state Legisla-ture into adopting many of thetaxes that continue to fund theMTA today and who devised theagencys first five-year capitalplan to keep decay at bay.

Theres nobody better thanDick Ravitch to do this, saidGerald Benjamin, an associate

vice president at SUNY NewPaltz and an expert on stategovernment. He saved theMTA in the eighties and he un-derstands the system and thefinancial situation from a per-spective of three decades.

Beyond the obvious every-thing is on the table and every-body is probably going to pay

more Ravitch has kept a lid onthe commissions work. Benja-min, however, thinks Ravitchwill be hard-pressed to simplyrecommend more of the same higher fares and tolls, highertaxes and subsidies becausethe MTAs needs are long-term.

Theres a compelling needfor new sources of reve-nue, said Benjamin. Whichis why I dont think conges-tion pricing is a dead issue.

Quick fix nixedCongestion pricing, at least

Continued from preceding page

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