MTA Reps Grilled By City As Fighting About Subway Fix Continues

NEW YORK CITY, NY – With the mayor and governor feuding over how to pay for subway repairs, City Council members held a hearing Tuesday to grill MTA reps.

“The idea that somehow the city of New York is not contributing or doing its share, I think, is not only an insult to us here who are having this hearing, but to taxpayers who are paying the taxes in New York City... going towards the MTA," said City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito,

Her comments came after Gov. Andrew Cuomo last month called on Mayor Bill de Blasio to split the estimated $800 million-a-year that is needed to turn around the MTA. De Blasio has refused to pay, saying the state has already taken funds the city intended for the MTA and directed them to other purposes.

During Tuesday’s hearing, city pols called on the MTA to provide greater clarity on how existing funds are being spent.

“Neither the city nor its taxpayers should be willing to write a blank check to bail out the MTA after decades of mismanagement and diverted funds without real reforms,” said Public Advocate Letitia James.

But Council members and MTA reps including Managing Director Ronnie Hakim were unable to agree on how much the city is already contributing to the MTA. Mark-Viverito and other Council members said some $12.8 billion of city cash was going to the MTA, including $3.6 billion in taxes.

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MTA Budget Director Dough Johnson disputed those figures, saying, “That’s just not the way the money is legislated.”

Public Advocate Letitia James said there should be a “lockbox” for MTA funds so they cannot be used for anything else.

She added that “everything should be on the table” in terms of finding steady revenue sources for the MTA.

Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who chairs the Transportation Committee, voiced support for a range of recent proposals to pay for the subway system. Those include a so-called “millionaires’ tax” de Blasio suggested on Monday and the “Move NY” plan to enact tolls on East River bridges.

“At the end of the day, the many initiatives put forward are all valuable to addressing long-term needs for our system,” Rodriguez said at a press conference prior to the hearing. “All together, they are the plan to take our transportation system to the 21st century.”

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Lead image of Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez on Tuesday by Shant Shahrigian/Patch.