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Gov. Cuomo’s executive budget includes hidden $65M cut in MTA funds


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http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/cuomo-executive-budget-quietly-slashes-mta-funds-65m-article-1.2970610
 

Gov. Cuomo’s executive budget includes hidden $65M cut in MTA funds
 
By: Dan Rivoli
 
mta13n-1-web.jpg

The suffering subway, bus and rail system may have less money to move New Yorkers. A line tucked deep in Gov. Cuomo’s executive budget from last month calls for a $65 million cut to a chunk of money the state gives to the MTA — down to $244 million from $309 million last year. The 21% cut, if it survives the budget process, would hit the MTA at a time when commuters are fuming over frequent delays, spotty service, overcrowding and constant fare hikes. “If Gov. Cuomo wants to take credit for opening the Second Ave. subway, he also has to take responsibility of the day-to-day operations in the rest of the subway system,” said John Raskin, director of the Riders Alliance.
 
The money from the state’s general fund is supposed to keep the MTA whole after the state in 2011 slashed a politically unpopular payroll tax on businesses in the region served by the transit network. “This funding is based only on a promise,” Raskin said. “We had a fear that a moment like this would come to pass, where the governor is proposing to break that promise.” The Riders Alliance and about 20 commuters will rally with lawmakers at the capitol Monday to get the legislature to reverse the cut. “We want more service and better transit options. The MTA always says they don’t have the money for it,” said Assemblywoman Nily Rozic (D-Queens), who will be at the rally.
 
“We can’t be funneling money away from the system.” The MTA is also banking on the money — in its latest budget, it’s assuming that the reimbursement will be $311 million a year. The payroll tax, meanwhile, brought the MTA more than $1.3 billion in the 2016 fiscal year. Veronica Vanterpool, an MTA board member and director of Tri-State Transportation Campaign, said $65 million is no drop in the bucket, even for the MTA’s nearly $16 billion operating budget. “We don’t know how that drop will impact, but we know it will in some way,” she said. State budget division spokesman Morris Peters said that the MTA is actually receiving an extra net $16.7 million, compared to the previous year, due to increases in tax revenue and other types of aid to the transit agency. He did not explain why the contribution from the state’s general fund needed to be cut. “It takes some kind of math to call an increase a cut,” Peters said. “MTA revenues from the payroll mobility tax are increasing by $17 million in this budget — part of a $30 million total increase in operating support.”

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ate budget division spokesman Morris Peters said that the MTA is actually receiving an extra net $16.7 million, compared to the previous year, due to increases in tax revenue and other types of aid to the transit agency.

Is this true, or is it bad math (a la Mangano's budget surplus)? I'm not defending this but it does make a difference. 

Also LOL @ 20 commuters, I'm sure that'll make them change their minds. Appreciate the effort though!

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Dear God, NO.

 

Do you really want decisions about NYC subways/buses being made by the governor of New Jersey?

 

Do you really want decisions about the suburban NY railroads being made by political hacks from New Jersey?

 

The only way this would be a positive change is if NJ ceded control to NY, simply paying them to run PATH and NJT Rail. 

 

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The only way this would be a positive change is if NJ ceded control to NY, simply paying them to run PATH and NJT Rail. 

 

I was thinking about the possibility of the MTA taking over PATH. Although, unless the two agencies were to merge, there wouldn't really be much of a benefit to the MTA from a takeover.

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I was thinking about the possibility of the MTA taking over PATH. Although, unless the two agencies were to merge, there wouldn't really be much of a benefit to the MTA from a takeover.

Imagine if the (MTA) replaced the PATH trains with R160s or something that being a new (V) line from 34th Street to somewhere in New Jersey. xD
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The problem with Andrew Cuomo is that he has an "edifice complex" which could be seen with all the physical projects that the governor has been proposing recently.Projects like the completion of the Second Avenue Subway to 96th Street gave the governor free publicity in the mainstream media and kept his face in front of the voters. A subsidy to the MTA does not give the governor that publicity that he craves and needs so he will try to sneak this cut in without the public learning about it. Fortunately someone somewhere did the diligent work and made sure that the public and now elected officials will know about it before it is passed. This information should put all of us on notice that we should make sure that our state assembly representative and State Senator will make sure that the money will be restored.

Cuomo has started his campaign for another term for governor in 2018 so he wants his face on everything that can be posted. He is also running for president  in 2020 despite his denials.  l think he must should worry about what the indicted people that are close to him are saying to law enforcement because what they say can destroy all his plans.

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Imagine if the (MTA) replaced the PATH trains with R160s or something that being a new (V) line from 34th Street to somewhere in New Jersey. xD

The PATH is IRT-size, so if PATH became part of the subway, its lines would probably have numbers assigned, instead of letters.

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Amen to that. Never, ever get a response from her office to my MTA-related communications. Every other elected official I've ever contacted has communicated back to me with at least a canned message.

 

Well she may not have the budget to hire additional staff but still. I usually get a response from all of my representatives with the exception of one and I've seen him in person. Cocky a-hole. Not sure what the story is with her, but she sure as hell puts on an act in public like she's fighting so hard for her constituents.
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I think Cuomo has done a good job overall.  He's the governor for all of NY, not just NYC, and therefore has to think about upstate as well, which is suffering tremendously.  

The upstate goes to hell with NYC by virtue of being part of NYS. Let’s see how well the rest of NYS does without the city.

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The upstate goes to hell with NYC by virtue of being part of NYS. Let’s see how well the rest of NYS does without the city.

Yes, but NYS is truly in terrible shape. Population loss due to a lack of jobs and increasing taxes... NYC is doing better in comparison, but de Blasio has been spending like no tomorrow, so the potential cuts to the (MTA)'s budget don't surprise me. We need to be prudent fiscally because the good ol' days may not be here much longer. All it takes is for Wall Street to have a bad year, or tourism to take a nose dive and that tax base isn't so big. Tech isn't doing that great either here, and we know how bad things are in Europe along with the strong U.S. dollar. It will be an interesting year. The tourists are still coming, but they may not be as plentiful...
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Well well, what a surprise.  I wouldn't expect anything less from the Emperor.  And of course once the money is 'diverted',  (MTA) will take it out on the riders and slash service again with another round of cuts.

It's bad enough that he thinks he deserves a third term as governor; but god help us if he runs for President in 2020.

 

Can't wait for this arrogant, closet-Republican f**k to be thrown out- that day can't come soon enough....

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Well she may not have the budget to hire additional staff but still. I usually get a response from all of my representatives with the exception of one and I've seen him in person. Cocky a-hole. Not sure what the story is with her, but she sure as hell puts on an act in public like she's fighting so hard for her constituents.

 

I pass by her office on the QM1/5/6 and I see a whole bunch of interns/office staff every day...not sure what they are doing, but it sure isn't responding to constituent emails! I have yet to learn of one concrete thing she has accomplished that fulfills her campaign promises related to transit. Blabbering on at a random rally doesn't count in my book.  

 

As a contrast, Rory Lancman, whose office is across the street from Rozic's, has taken care of all the issues I've contacted his office about relating to transit and other matters. Big fan of his.  

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As for NJT/PATH, PATH already has PA-5s, these are replica to the NTTs of NYCTA. Basically, all they have to do is paint them into black (rendered to R150A) and number them as 15/16/17/18 with (15) running from WTC to Newark, (16) from WTC to Hoboken, (17) from 33 to Journal Sq, (18) 33 to Journal Sq via Hoboken

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using NYC Transit Forums mobile app

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Yes, but NYS is truly in terrible shape. Population loss due to a lack of jobs and increasing taxes... NYC is doing better in comparison, but de Blasio has been spending like no tomorrow, so the potential cuts to the (MTA)'s budget don't surprise me. We need to be prudent fiscally because the good ol' days may not be here much longer. All it takes is for Wall Street to have a bad year, or tourism to take a nose dive and that tax base isn't so big. Tech isn't doing that great either here, and we know how bad things are in Europe along with the strong U.S. dollar. It will be an interesting year. The tourists are still coming, but they may not be as plentiful...

 

We are now inflating the bubble beyond what is relatively "safe" into stretched territory. The longer this goes without a recession from here on out, the worse it will be when it hits. It just takes a crisis to trigger it and everything will come crashing right back down again.

 

The last 1-2 years has actually seen the most real growth of many of the post recession years. Why? Wage hikes have started to take root.

 

America has to stop looking at macroeconomics. Take the book and throw it in the trash. Start looking at microeconomics like the rest of the world does. If workers don't have money, they don't spend money. If they don't spend money, business doesn't make money. If business doesn't make money, it doesn't hire workers or give them raises. If workers don't get hired or get raises, they don't have money. And so on.

 

Sure enough, when the bubble deflates, business will make it worse by hurting their workers to protect high executive compensation, lobbying money, and other frivolous wastes of life and that will cause the next recession to quite likely be longer than the previous one. The fact that so many haven't really "seen" the end of the last recession is not lost on me, and mark my words, many more will be left behind in the next bubble and bust cycle.

 

Most of the country is in terrible shape because hyper-urbanization has been pushed "above all else" and it is placing a huge demand on city infrastructure everywhere. We live in a gigantic country we took great lengths to steal from the Native Americans, and yet despite all this land seem perfectly happy to cram everyone into the same 10 cities while the rest lay fallow and decay. That is the absolute height of stupidity and it's time state governments started looking into growing small towns into larger ones instead of trying to attract companies to build "campuses" in the middle of nowhere which resemble nothing like a real city (or town with infrastructure) and instead are more like a temporary day camp for adults...all so that a company makes its HQ there in return for overly generous tax breaks.

 

The current model is not working. Wake up people.

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