The MTA is sitting on a gold mine – a whopping $700 million in net assets – it could tap into this year in order to avoid raising bus and subway fares, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller charged yesterday.
“The MTA provides a great product, but a fare hike is not necessary,” he said. “They have the resources to stop a fare increase.”
Miller (D-Manhattan) said the MTA has $3.5 billion in total assets – $673 million of which is available for it to dip into and put off passing more costs onto straphangers.
“The MTA has other choices,” he said. “Not all of the funds are accessible immediately, but enough of it is there to not raise the fare.”
But MTA chairman Peter Kalikow lashed back, saying in a written statement that Miller is suggesting the state agency “sell its bridges, tunnels, subways, buses and trains to raise the $4.4 billion in cash.”
Kalikow said if the MTA sold its assets, then riders “would not have a mass-transit system.”
The MTA has said it needs to raise bus and subway fares to as much as $2 and put 177 token booths on the chopping block in order to close a $2.8 billion gross deficit over the next two years.
The state agency also plans to increase fares on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North by as much as 33 percent and raise tolls on its bridges and tunnels 50 cents.
MTA executive director Katherine Lapp testified last week at a City Council hearing that the state agency has cut down its deficit to $952 million following its debt restructuring plan. Miller said the $673 million figure comes from the MTA’s 2001 annual budget report and includes assets such as treasury bonds.
“If you look at the MTA’s numbers you’ll see that the money is in the bank,” he said.
The MTA has scheduled 10 public hearings next month where riders can debate the proposed fare hike.