US News

IT GETS WORSE

A new round of layoffs, fare hikes and service cuts will be announced on Wednesday because the MTA has sunk $621 million deeper into debt than previously expected, agency chief Elliot Sander said today.

That bad news is in addition to the 23 percent fare increases, about 1,000 layoffs and the elimination of about 24 buses and two subway lines already approved by the MTA.

The cash-strapped agency is further in the red because revenues from usually reliable sources — like taxes and fares — have come in lower than expected this year.

Sander also said that a financial rescue plan in the state Senate is ill-equipped to handle the MTA’s growing debt in the coming years.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith’s bill to tax every taxi ride $1, institute a tax on business payrolls and also authorize several automobile-related surcharges passed through the Senate’s Transportation Committee today.

Another plan, authored by former MTA chief Richard Ravitch, would combine the payroll tax with tolls on 13 now-free East and Harlem river bridges.

“The only option that can handle the MTA’s growing debt service payments”, Sander said, “are the tolls.”