No wonder they’re hiking tolls and fares — the Port Authority is a multimillion-dollar money pit.
The cash-strapped agency routinely loses tens of millions of dollars each year on facilities — from bridges to bus terminals, to obscure office spaces.
Just a selection of those properties and services puts the PA about $131 million in the hole each year. The amount represents 13 percent of the $1 billion the agency would raise with its massive toll-hike proposal.
The public can sound off on the proposed toll increases at public hearings tomorrow. The agency’s full board will vote on the plan on Friday.
Topping the list of losers in the agency’s portfolio is its bus terminal in Times Square, which is projected to lose $99.7 million this year, according to budget figures.
Other losing endeavors projected for 2011 include:
* Stewart International Airport in New Windsor, Orange County, which is expected to lose $11.8 million this year, up 6.8 million from 2009.
* The Goethals Bridge, pegged to lose $5.5 million this year.
* The Newark Legal Center, a 20-story office tower that is $1.6 million in the red this year.
* The Teleport, a 100-acre office and business park in Staten Island managed by the PA that is projected to lose $1.8 million this year.
* The agency’s ferry services, projected to lose $10.6 million this year.
This branch of the PA funds ferry terminals like the 2-year-old Battery Park City stop — which skyrocketed nearly three times over budget to $91.5 million — as well as several other water-commuting services in the region.
Roughly 9.7 million people use PA ferry facilities a year — peanuts compared with the city’s subway system, which moves some 8 million straphangers a day.
The agency has said it needs to hike tolls to raise revenue to complete the massive redevelopment of the World Trade Center, which The Post has revealed is way over budget.
For E-ZPass drivers, tolls would increase by $4 in September and then $2 more in 2014.
Cash-paying motorists would see their tolls increase $7 to $15 total next month, and then to $17 total in three years.
PATH fares would increase by $1 to $2.75, more than the price of an MTA subway ride.
Unlike the MTA, the PA does not receive money from the state but is funded by revenue generated by its facilities.
The authority was created to provide infrastructure to the region, important undertakings that are often unprofitable, according to officials.
“The Port Authority’s key missions are to move people and goods throughout the region and help spur economic growth,” said agency spokesman Ron Marsico.
Locations for Port Authority public hearings tomorrow:
8 a.m. hearings:
Newark Liberty International Airport
1 Conrad Road
Building 157, Bay 3
Newark, NJ 07114
973-961-6161
Port Authority Technical Center
241 Erie Street, Room 212
Jersey City, NJ 07310
201-216-2700
Port Ivory/Howland Hook
40 Western Ave.
Staten Island, NY 10303
718-330-2950
Port Authority Bus Terminal
625 8th Avenue
Times Square Conference Room – 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10018
212-502-2240
6 p.m. hearings
George Washington Bridge Administration Building
220 Bruce Reynolds Way
Conference Room
Fort Lee, NJ 07024
201-346-4005
Holland Tunnel Administration Building,
13th Street & Provost Street
Conference Room
Jersey City, NJ 07310
201-360-5021
George Washington Bridge Bus Station
4211 Broadway
Lower Level Conference Room
New York, NY 10033
201-346-4005
John F. Kennedy International Airport
Port Authority Administration
Building 14, 2nd Floor Conference Room
Jamaica, NY 11430
718-244-3501
2 pm hearing
Online at http://www.panynj.gov.