Statement to the MTA Board – William Henderson
March 26, 2014
You have seen the petition signatures brought to you by John Raskin of the Riders Alliance. Riders understand that when revenue sources are set aside to support transit the funds generated should not be diverted for other purposes. When money is swept from the MTA into the State’s general fund, this Board has two choices to replace them, which are reducing service or increasing fares and tolls. That’s why riders are increasingly speaking out to protect transit funding.
As you know, we believe that there are many unmet service needs throughout the system. The proper use of dedicated transit funds is meeting these service needs, rather than funding recurring sweeps into the State’s general fund. The argument has been made that these sweeps do not affect the MTA, as these funds were not included in the Authority’s budget, but this is a chicken and egg question. The dedicated taxes in question don’t affect the MTA’s finances because they were excluded from consideration.
I want to leave you with a simple point; dedicated transit funds are properly spent on transit. Thank you.
Download here: 032614 Board Statement – MMTOA Sweep