What to know as MTA board prepares for budget vote

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board is voting Wednesday on a $19.3 billion operating budget for next year — with $11.8 billion of the total going to labor costs such as payroll, overtime, pensions and health care.

The operating budget for the MTA — the largest U.S. transit system — comes from a mix of revenue from fares, tolls, taxes and other sources. The subway system covers the bulk of that $19.3 billion budget — $10 billion. The budget for the Long Island Rail Road is $2 billion. The balance goes to other MTA agencies, such as the LIRR’s sister commuter railroad, Metro-North.

An operating budget is different from the capital plan, which is used to expand the system. That plan, covering $54.8 billion for the subways, buses, railroads, bridges and tunnels, started in 2020 and continues into next year. It isn’t up for a vote Wednesday. The capital plan is counting on revenue from the imminent implementation of congestion pricing to charge drivers in certain parts of Manhattan. Without the revenue from that plan, the MTA has said, vital projects are in jeopardy.

An MTA committee on Monday approved the distribution of $2 billion to various projects, pending the approval of the full board.

The projects include the replacement of the Webster Avenue Bridge in Manhasset on the Port Washington branch and the installation of a surveillance camera system “for passenger identification at various New York City Transit stations,” as MTA construction and development general counsel Evan Eisland described it at a committee hearing Monday.

The MTA disclosed earlier this year that it had begun using A.I. to combat fare beaters.

The agency came a step closer to replacing the Webster Avenue Bridge, with a contract totaling $10.6 million. The bridge has “severely deteriorated and poses a safety hazard to train operations on that line,” according to a budget document describing the project.

The plan calls for the removal and disposal of the existing structure, the construction of a new bridge, the reconstruction of the nearby roadway, retaining walls and sidewalk, and the installation of catch basins and a new drainage system, the document says.

Newsday reported last year that the bridge, built in 1898, has been described by the LIRR as being in “deteriorated” condition.

The state Department of Transportation has rated it as being in “poor” condition.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.