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Bloomberg Proposal Called "Recipe for More Fare Hikes" The New York Sun Mayor Bloomberg's proposal to cut the city's funding to transit could lead to another fare hike, budget watchers say. The budget calls for $200 million in savings from transportation. Half is expected to come from the proposed takeover of the city-subsidized private bus lines. "You should have the animals in the zoo and be able to get there," said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign. "Sticking the MTA with the seventh-largest bus system in the U.S. without city aid and cutting tens of millions in city operating assistance is a recipe for more fare hikes." Mr. Russianoff and some others are concerned that, because the money would come from a matching program into which the city and state each pay $153 million, if the city gets state permission for a cutback, the door is open for an equal state cut. "Given the fact that it's a matching subsidy, the state, which has its own considerable budget shortfall, could use it to reduce its own subsidy to the authority as well," said Doug Turetsky, a spokesman for the city's Independent Budget Office. There's a chilling precedent for it, Mr. Russianoff said. In 1994, Mayor Giuliani withheld $113 million the city owed for student transit passes.The matter was resolved eventually when the city and the state agreed to split the cost of that subsidy, but the next year, Governor Pataki made his own cut to transit, by diverting a $220-million surplus in transit funding taxes into the state's general budget. The money was to be split between transit and the commuter railroads. "Giuliani opened the door to state cuts," Mr. Russianoff said. A new fare hike followed in 1995.The Straphangers Campaign, which had predicted the fare hike would follow the cuts, handed Metropolitan Transportation Authority board members fortune cookies at the fare hike hearing. Mr. Bloomberg's proposal "sets up the same scenario," Mr. Russianoff said. The governor's office said there have been no discussions on the transit funds, which are still in the state budget. "We're reviewing the mayor's budget," said MTA spokesman Tom Kelly. The transit funds remain untouched in city budget. Only the proposal exists. Like the proposal for tolls on the city controlled East River bridges, cutting transit funding would require state approval. Mr. Bloomberg gave up on the tolls recently.But given that the matching funds have been cut in the past, and that cuts are the order of the day, there is concern that the mayor's proposal is a sign of things to come. A $200 million hole in transit funding could pave the way for service cuts or a new fare hike, Mr. Russianoff said. "That's roughly 15 or 20 cents on the fare," he said. << Back
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