MTA should scale back spending plans, watchdog group reports

The MTA may not be able to afford $12 billion in infrastructure funding that it is counting on to modernize the transit system and should scale back spending plans to focus on maintaining what it already has, according to a new report.

But the MTA's top leader on Tuesday dismissed the report from the Citizens Budget Commission for not acknowledging considerable progress made by the transit agency recently in advancing infrastructure work.

The report by the CBC, a nonprofit fiscal watchdog group, looks at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s five-year Capital Program, which is used to fund billions in infrastructure investments, ranging from maintaining tracks and signals, to buying new Long Island Rail Road train cars, to major expansion efforts like East Side Access.

According to the report, out of the $121 billion that the MTA expects to cover capital spending from 2010-2024, “at least $12.0 billion is at risk or unaffordable.”

That includes funding from the MTA’s operating annual budget — which is expected to hit a $2.5 billion deficit when federal COVID-19 relief aid runs out in two years. The report said another “$500 million in expected funding is at risk due to weakness in a new dedicated real estate transfer tax.”

Also in jeopardy is $3 billion that the MTA expects to generate from its congestion pricing plan. That plan, which would enact new tolls in Manhattan, has not been approved by federal regulators, and the MTA still has not decided on toll amounts.

MTA officials have in recent months pushed for a new dedicated revenue stream from the state that would allow it to avoid projected shortfalls.

The report also criticized the MTA for being too slow to spend infrastructure funding it already has. According to the report, the agency still hasn’t committed $52.9 billion in funding for various projects dating back to its 2010-2014 Capital Program, and, over the past six years, has averaged only about $7.1 billion in infrastructure spending each year.

Before the MTA spends further, the CBC recommended that the agency publish a “priority list” of about $23 billion in projects that it will take on by 2024. Instead of expansion efforts, like the proposed new Interborough Express rail link between Brooklyn and Queens, spending should “focus on state of good repair, normal replacement, and system improvement projects,” the report said.

Addressing the report during a new conference Tuesday, MTA chairman Janno Lieber said the CBC “got it totally wrong” in its report. Lieber said that following an 18-month halt on most infrastructure work because of COVID-19, the MTA has committed $9.5 billion in capital spending over the last 12 months.

MTA spokesperson Aaron Donovan added that 75% of spending already goes to maintaining the current system.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.