Nearly $1.5 billion in revenue from a new payroll tax that’s supposed to be set aside for capital projects will likely have to be used to plug holes in the MTA’s 2010 operating budget, a former agency chairman said yesterday.
“I think 2010 is going to be a rough year,” for the MTA and the economy, Richard Ravitch said at a meeting of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee.
“The political pressures in 2010 will be such that most of the payroll tax will be used to fund the operating budget.”
He predicted “uncertainty” in funding the agency’s megaprojects, such as the Second Avenue Subway and the LIRR connection to Grand Central Terminal.