(The following story by Steve Ritea appeared on the Newsday website on June 24.)
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will not move forward on a slew of previously announced service improvements, the agency said yesterday, pointing to a steady decline in real estate tax revenue and the prospect of another fare hike early next year.
The MTA’s finance staff also suggested the board consider deferring $2.7 billion worth of projects, including many on the Long Island Rail Road, but said big-ticket items like taking the LIRR into Grand Central Terminal and building the Second Avenue subway, would not be affected.
Despite all the gloomy news out of yesterday’s meeting of the authority’s finance committee, board chairman Dale Hemmerdinger said the agency is still hopeful things can turn around in the months ahead.
“It’s premature to assume the end of the world is coming,” he told reporters after the meeting.
MTA chief Elliot Sander announced in early March that the MTA would move to put the improvements into place. They would have added peak-hour trains, including a morning one from Farmingdale, and evening trains to Farmingdale, Hicksville and Far Rockaway in the fall.
The MTA’s portion of the June real estate tax revenue was $40.9 million short of budget projections for the month, after falling short $37.8 million in May.
Although the MTA had previously projected it would end the year with a $300-million surplus, finance chief Gary Dellaverson said it’s now on track to close out the year with half that amount. And that’s assuming the financial downtrend doesn’t continue.
The full surplus was expected to shrink next year’s projected deficit to $200 million. If things don’t change, however, the deficit will only leave a greater financing gap.
After the meeting, Sander echoed comments he made in Albany last week – that a fare and toll hike along with service cuts are possible if things don’t turn around or additional help doesn’t arrive from Albany or another source.
“I think riders should be concerned,” he said. “I would not say that a fare and toll increase is inevitable.”
In its capital budget, the MTA board was asked to consider pushing $2.7 billion worth of comparatively small projects back by several years. Rising construction costs and the failure of state lawmakers to approve Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan haven’t helped.
On the LIRR, those projects include a $21-million plan to improve the signal system between Babylon and Patchogue, and a $15-million redesign of the Jamaica Interlocking, a major switching point near the railroad’s central hub.
The board is expected to vote on that plan in July.