In a grim return to politics as usual, Gov. Kathy Hochul is messing with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in a bid to boost her chances in next year’s Democratic gubernatorial race.
This week, she pledged to expand the Second Avenue subway into East Harlem, though there’s no clear way for the MTA to pay for that incredibly expensive project. Last month, Hochul promised no fare hikes. She also took the MTA’s planned wage freeze off the table, surely pleasing members of the Transport Workers Union.
Don’t expect the Legislature to call her out on it: Two dozen or so lawmakers just skipped an Assembly oversight hearing on the MTA’s $51.5 billion capital budget.
Thing is, the only reason the MTA isn’t already off the fiscal rails is a huge cash bath from the feds, which won’t last forever. As Nicole Gelinas noted recently, it’s set to get a $14.5 billion federal windfall over six years (2020 to 2025). Absent that, it would face a $2.4 billion deficit next year — nearly 13 percent of its planned $18.5 billion in spending.
And the longer-term picture’s no brighter: It could take a decade for ridership to return to pre-pandemic levels, labor costs continue to soar, and rising inflation poses another threat.
Plus, Republicans look likely to retake the House and even the Senate next fall — and won’t continue to rain money on Democrat-heavy New York. Indeed, they could claw back some of the funds now in the pipeline for future years.
Meanwhile, the agency’s carrying a huge debt load thanks to the $10 billion cost overruns for the East Side Access project to bring LIRR trains into Grand Central plus $6 billion borrowed for the first chunk of the Second Avenue line. Where is it supposed to find another $6 billion-plus for a second segment?
Forcing fresh fiscal foolishness on the MTA might seem an easy way for the gov to score easy popularity points, but it guarantees big trouble down the line for all New Yorkers who depend on a fully functioning mass-transit system.
