A little-known US House transportation bill stripping the MTA of much-needed revenue could lead to a fare hike for city straphangers, the agency’s chief warned yesterday.
MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota — in an unusual foray into national politics — blasted the Republican-backed bill that would strip roughly $1 billion in guaranteed annual funding from the agency.
“It’s the worst piece of legislation anyone could ever imagine,” he fumed at a press conference in Grand Central Terminal.
In addition to possibly leading to a fare hike, the bill also jeopardizes MTA mega-projects like the Second Avenue Subway by eliminating the guaranteed tax-revenue sources for those big-ticket plans.
“This bill would hit the MTA hard,” said Lhota.
It could also hit riders in the wallet.
“Over time . . . if we don’t get the monies necessary to do the repair and renovations of the system, it will raise fares,” said Lhota.
Dubbed the American Energy and Infrastructure Act, the bill calls for a drastic rewriting of the funding formula under which the MTA receives federal dollars.
That formula, first introduced in 1983 by President Ronald Reagan, guarantees the MTA and other mass-transit agencies a cut of all revenues from gas taxes.
If the bill passes, none of the mass-transit agencies — the largest of which is the MTA — would get money from those taxes.
Instead, agencies would have to petition the feds annually for funding — a risky proposition that would force the MTA to compete against everything from homeland security to education for funding.
“The proposal would substitute a reliable funding source with an undetermined and wholly unreliable commitment,” said Lhota.
“It would rob the MTA of investments we count on every year to fund our vital capital program.”
The bill has already passed the House’s Transportation and Ways and Means committees.
It is expected to go to the floor for a vote next week.
Rep. Joseph Crowley, a Democrat who represents Queens and The Bronx, said a House Republican told him they needed to take the money away from mass transit to fund infrastructure programs all over the country.
“We all recognize that we have an infrastructure problem, but you don’t rob from Peter to pay for Paul,” said Crowley.