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The MTA is getting walloped by a shortfall in state tax revenue while riders are being asked to dig deeper into their pockets.
Straphangers are weeks away from a fare hike that will send the monthly MetroCard to $104 and severely reduce the pay-per-ride “bonus.”
And the latest jostle for commuters is that the wide-ranging “bailout” package of fees and taxes approved in 2009 is coming in about $400 million short of projections that were established earlier this year, statistics show.
The controversial business tax — which hits all business owners in the MTA region with a 34-cent levy for every $100 of payroll — appears to be $321 million under expectations, MTA data show.
Overall, it will bring in about $1.34 billion instead of the $1.66 billion that bean counters projected.
And the “MTA aid” levies — like a 50-cent surcharge on every yellow-cab ride along with car-rental, garage-parking and license fees — are under projections by $60 million, the numbers show.
“The riders have done their part with service cuts and fare hikes, but motorists aren’t doing their part,” fumed Andrew Albert, an MTA board member.
He added that the bailout bill “is not a good package” and that city’s free bridges should be tolled to help finance mass transit.
It’s those poorly performing taxes and other moves — like Gov. Paterson yanking $160 million from the MTA to help the state budget — that hit straphangers in the wallet.
At first, the state thought the MTA would get mounds of payroll-tax cash because many business owners didn’t know to pay it in late 2009.
But the returns fell short because of “overstated 2009 [payroll-tax] estimates that the state initially believed were delayed,” according to MTA documents.
Also, the economy was weaker than expected, the MTA said, “which in turn resulted in lower-than-expected tax receipts.”
For the other package of taxes, the biggest losses came from Department of Motor Vehicles license and registration fees, the documents said. The DMV tacked on an extra $1 for every six months a driver’s license was valid and an extra $50 on all vehicle registrations and renewals.
“The $320 million drop reflects current projections for 2010 against what the MTA had in its February plan,” said Erik Kriss, spokesman for the state Division of the Budget. “The MTA’s February plan numbers are based on the payroll projections the state made in December 2009.”
What money train
The MTA, which is socking commuters with a fare hike Dec. 30, will collect about $400 million less in tax revenue in 2010 than projected.
* Business payroll tax will be $321M short of projections.
* Payroll tax will bring in about $1.34B instead of the expected $1.66B.
* “MTA aid” taxes are $60M short.
* Riders will be hit with a 7.5 percent fare increase.