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BRIDGE TOLLS HIT TROUBLED WATER

ALBANY – Unless five Democratic state senators can be convinced to change their minds, the plan to bail out the MTA by imposing tolls on East and Harlem river bridges is dead in the water, a Post survey has revealed.

The holdouts say the $2 toll proposal, the key element of the plan proposed by former MTA head Richard Ravitch, would unfairly hit outer-borough residents without access to mass transit.

“If it’s 1 cent, I’m against it,” said state Sen. Kevin Parker (D-Brooklyn). The others who have ruled out tolls are Carl Charger of Brooklyn, and Ruben Diaz Sr., Pedro Espada Jr. and Ruth Hassle-Thompson, all of The Bronx.

They vowed to block any tolls, even if that pushes talks past the MTA’s March 25 deadline for fare hikes and services cuts.

Instead, they believe the agency should find other ways to close its projected $1.2 billion budget gap and fund its cash-starved capital plan.

“You want to put tolls on the Willis Avenue Bridge, the Madison Avenue Bridge?” Hassle-Thompson asked. “And you have to ask what my position is?”

Twenty Democratic senators said they were leaning toward supporting the plan. The undecided include John Samson of Brooklyn and Toby Stavisky, George Onorato and, notably, Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith of Queens.

“Two dollars is a hell of a lot better than $5,” Onorato said before adding that he still considered tolls to be “a last resort.” The original toll proposal was for the higher toll.

Any plan would need unanimous Democratic support in the 62-seat Senate, where Democrats have a one-vote majority. The Senate’s 30 Republicans, who hail largely from upstate and Long Island, oppose the Ravitch plan, which they argue includes too many tax increases and ignores transportation needs elsewhere in the state.

Opposition to tolls has only hardened since Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) unexpectedly endorsed a compromise to cut the proposed tolls from $5 to $2 and forever link them to subway fares.

More than 20 city Assembly members oppose the Silver compromise. But the speaker, whose party holds 109 of the Assembly’s 150 seats, says he still has the votes to pass it.

Gov. Paterson is expected to push hard for a transit bailout this week. The MTA was one of several topics Senate Democrats discussed yesterday in an hours-long Capitol powwow

brendan.scott@nypost.com