Tolls off table in MTA talks
Tolls on bridges into Manhattan are off the table as Gov. Paterson and legislative leaders try to come up with a financial bailout package for the MTA, the governor said today.
“The Senate has really eliminated what my choice would be, which would be to have tolls,’’ he said after emerging from a closed-door meeting with legislative leaders.
Paterson initially backed a plan that would impose a new employment tax on all businesses in the MTA region (including Westchester, Rockland, Dutchess and Orange counties, besides the city and Long Island), higher train, bus and subway fares and a toll on the bridges. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver backed a similar plan.
But Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, D-Queens, couldn’t muster the votes for it because of opposition of some of his members to the tolls. So now, the governor said, the trick is to find some other source for the billions the tolls would have generated.
Absent a bailout plan, the MTA plans to raise fares sharply and cut service starting this summer.
Silver said the leaders are working “desperately’’ to come up with a deal. But nothing yet.
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Tolls on East River bridges were never going to happen, and I said so 2 weeks ago…
“March 17th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Tolls on bridges that don’t have them already? Besides the fact that I think it’s already outrageous to pay the $$ that we already pay to get into Manhattan and out to LI, how are they planning to collect these tolls? Gonna put an honor box at the entrance ramps? I don’t think so. Building tollbooths where they don’t already have them will probably eat up whatever revenue the MTA is hoping to take in, and will take longer than this projected fiscal period to put into place. Either they’re just putting THAT out there as a bargaining chip they’re more than willing to give up, or it’s a sneaky way to give Bloomberg his rejected fee for entering Midtown.
Or both.”
Im very glad the governor has made the right decision today. You can’t simply expect the people to pay more to fix the problem. We need to re-structure things to get these issues resolved, not just tax away! Check out 99problems.org to see what they’re doing on this issue to help the general public