Transit Funding

Yesterday, a group of Assembly members and advocates took Governor Cuomo to task for the $40 million transit raid in his budget proposal. The legislators unveiled a letter [PDF] urging Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to restore the funds in the legislative budget, due for a vote on March 12.

Which governor is worse on transit issues, Chris Christie or Andrew Cuomo? Amazingly, New York's chief executive could win this race to the bottom. The latest move from Cuomo would cut a guaranteed source of revenue for the MTA that Albany can never raid for its own purposes.

Transit advocates are sounding the alarm as Governor Cuomo again tries to quietly raid dedicated transit funds and back away from the state's promises to the MTA so he can plug Albany's budget holes.

Hours after the MTA announced that it would be scaling back planned fare hikes in part because of better-than-expected tax receipts, Governor Cuomo vetoed two transparency bills designed to discourage Albany from siphoning away those very same dedicated transit funds. The governor capped his veto with a brazen denial: Despite getting caught raiding the MTA's budget earlier this year, Cuomo insisted that he's done no such thing.

This afternoon, a coalition of more than 200 groups sent a letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo [PDF] asking him to sign the transit lockbox bill, which would help safeguard dedicated transit funds by requiring the state to disclose the impact of any raids on transit agency budgets. The pressure is on: The governor has until the middle of next week to sign or veto the legislation.

The transit lockbox bill, which would help safeguard dedicated transportation funds by requiring the state to disclose the impact of transit raids, still awaits a signature from Governor Cuomo following unanimous Senate and Assembly votes earlier this year. Now, two upstate newspapers are calling on the governor to sign the bill.

The transit lockbox bill, which would require Albany to disclose the impacts of any raid of dedicated transit funds, passed both the Senate and Assembly unanimously in the final days of the legislative session, reports the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. It now heads to Governor Andrew Cuomo's desk. A nearly identical bill reached Cuomo in 2011, but the governor gutted the disclosure provision and signed a toothless bill. This time around, will Cuomo put pen to paper and protect transit riders?

Albany has long used the MTA as a piggy bank, raiding dedicated transit funds on a regular basis to cover gaps in the state budget. As a result, straphangers are squeezed as transit agencies resort to fare hikes and service cuts to make up the difference.

Earlier this week, there was good news for transit riders: MTA tax receipts came in higher than expected, providing up to $40 million in additional revenue this year. While the MTA isn't scheduled to update its budget until summer, there is already talk of using the money to restore cuts or expand service.