The Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to cut costs to balance a $68.4 billion multiyear capital plan designed to modernize the city’s long-neglected mass-transit system.
The agency will not take on more debt to help find $3 billion of savings from this year through 2029, according to Janno Lieber, the MTA’s chief executive officer. Earlier this week Gov. Kathy Hochul tasked the MTA with coming up with the funds.
“I don’t want anyone to assume that we’re going to be piling on the borrowing because we’re very committed to maintaining the right debt-service ratio in our operating budget,” Lieber said Wednesday after an MTA board meeting.
Lieber said he is confident that the MTA can find efficiencies to avoid shelving or postponing much-needed upgrades. The transit agency has already saved money by bundling similar capital projects together to help cut down on cost, he added.
The MTA had $47.7 billion in debt, including $25.7 billion that’s repaid from farebox and bridge and toll revenue, as of March 20, according to MTA documents. Some $13 billion of debt is a part of its capital plan.
Principal and interest payments take up about 15% of the agency’s operating budget and Lieber said he intends for it to stay that way. Increasing MTA debt that’s backed by farebox and toll revenue would only put more pressure on the operating budget, he added.
Hochul said $1.2 billion originally pegged for renovating Penn Station will be used to help close the $35 billion shortfall in the MTA capital plan. The state is now free to use those funds after the Trump administration said it would take over that reconstruction project. Albany lawmakers also agreed to increase the payroll mobility tax on the largest businesses to help fill the gap.
The MTA’s capital plan includes upgrading subway signals that are almost a century old, renovating Grand Central Terminal’s train shed, rehabilitating aging power substations and purchasing thousands of new rail cars.
“The riders are the ones who are going to benefit the most,” Lieber said. “For Albany to recognize that a state-of-good-repair program like we put up that’s focused on fixing and maintaining the existing system is a huge step forward.”
