Put an end to transit raid, says bipartisan coalition

After countless raids and misappropriations of supposedly dedicated MTA funds, a coalition of MTA workers, business leaders, transit activists and state politicians have started to push for a transit funding lockbox. Spearheaded by State Senator Martin Golden and Assembly Member James Brennan and with the support of Transportation Alternatives, the Straphangers Campaign and the TWU, among others, the bipartisan effort could provide another piece in the MTA funding puzzle, and it is a solution long necessary to protect transit funding in New York.

“Albany must keep its promises. Taxes created to fund the MTA should be spent on the MTA. Albany has to stop raiding funds legally dedicated to transit, the environment, roads and bridges,” John Kaehny of Reinvent Albany, whose group has long called for a transit lockbox, said. “Creating a tax for a special purpose and then spending it on something else, is bad policy and bad government. It undermines public faith in government, and fuels cynicism.”

The measure, announced last week by Golden and Brennan, has garnered little press lately, but Allan Rosen brought it to my attention in his latest COMMUTE column on Sheepshead Bites. The bill currently has been referred to committee in Albany, but with some loud and powerful voices behind it, it could move quickly.

“This legislation is for those who ride the buses and trains in New York City and have been asked to pay more for less service,” Golden said in a statement. “The management of our transit system cannot be built around a misguided policy of increases and reductions. It doesn’t make sense that while the quality of the commute of thousands has deteriorated; it’s costing more for them to travel.”

Brennan, the Democrat, echoed his Republican colleague’s sentiments: “The transit system needs every dollar of dedicated tax revenue to pay for mass transit, not diverted to provide budget relief for the State’s deficits. Further sweeps by the State for the MTA’s dedicated funds will be a disaster for mass transit, and this legislation will provide needed protection.”

The bill, which is available in full here, is a simple one. “Diversion of funds dedicated to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and any of its subsidiaries to the general fund of the state is prohibited,” it says. The bill continues:

The director shall be prohibited from diverting revenues derived from taxes and fees paid by the public into a fund created by law for the expressed purposed of funding the MTA or any of its subsidiaries into the general fund of the state or into any other fund maintained for the support of another governmental purpose. No diversion of funds can occur contrary to this section by an administrative act of the director or any other person in the Executive Branch but can occur only upon a statute enacted into law authorizing a diversion that would otherwise be prohibited by this section.

In other words, the legislature can still divert funds, but if it does so, it must adhere to a series of stringent reporting requirements. Any diversion must include the following:

• The amount of the diversion from dedicated mass transit funds.
• The amount diverted from each fund.
• The amount diverted expressed as both monthly transit passes and EZ-Pass toll crossings.
• The cumulative amount of diversion from dedicated mass transit funds during the proceeding five years.
• The date or dates when the diversion is to occur.
• A detailed estimate of the impact of diversion from dedicated mass transit funds will have on the level of mass transit service, maintenance and security.

Essentially, if anyone in Albany is going to divert MTA funds away from transit, they have to be willing to lay out exactly what it means to the millions who rely on the subways, buses and MTA crossings every single day.

Golden, not a supporter of either the Ravitch plan or congestion pricing, has taken on an important role in New York City transit policy. He sits on the Capital Program Review Board, and despite his tenuous relationship with last decades’ funding measures, he has been vocal in calling for an end to these transit raids. With the right allies — including transit workers — this measure could gain momentum.

“The diversion last year of funding for public transportation resulted in the largest service reductions in New York City history,” John Samuelsen, head of the TWU, said. “Pinched funds this year will lead to additional service cutbacks, more dangerous stations and platforms, increased breakdowns of the rolling stock, and a needless decrease in quality-of-life throughout the transit system. The Lockbox legislation is a rational and necessary approach to protect this vitally essential public service, and to speed the economic recovery not only for the City but for the entire region.”