MTA options in the news
East End Shuttle plan back in spotlight
East End transportation advocates are promoting an alternativeto Metropolitan Transportation Authority service, a plan that hasbeen in the works for years but is getting more attention now thatthe MTA has proposed cutting service to the North Fork.
The 5 Town Rural Transit (5TRT) non-profit transit advocacygroup is pushing for continued government support of its East EndShuttle proposal, a system of public bus and rail service that hasbeen studied by the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center.The group has “a five-point plan for the East End to take controlof its transit future. It won’t be easy to achieve but it is nowthe only way to go, Hank DiCilla, press contact for 5TRT wrote in astatement this week.
The components of the plan are as follows:
1. Establish a Peconic Bay Regional Transportation Commission(PBRTC), including appointed officials from each town and severalvillages, as well as selected local residents.
2. Conduct an implementation study of the East End Shuttleconcept. Federal funding is currently being sought for this “nutsand bolts study of just what would be physically required todevelop the shuttle.
3. Study the feasibility of forming an East End regional transitauthority. The PBRTC would need to examine the feasibility ofleaving the jurisdiction of the MTA and forming a regional transitauthority on the East End.
4. Advance state legislators’ bills to form a regional transitauthority. Assemblymen Fred Thiele and Marc Alessi have introducedNew York State Assembly Bill A09861 to authorize formation of aPeconic Bay Regional Transportation Authority (PBRTA) at the statelevel to replace the MTA on the East End, and State Senator KenLaValle has introduced Senate Bill 06774 for the same purpose.These bills would initially authorize a non-binding referendumamong voters in the five East End Towns to gauge voter support.
5. Develop and conduct education programs regarding regionaltransit
The Town of Shelter Island contributed to the original Volpestudy. Members of the 5TRT Board of Directors hail from each of thefive East End towns; Patricia Shillingburg is the Shelter Islandrepresentative.
Governor proposes change in MTA tax
Governor David A. Paterson has announced that he will putforward proposed improvements to the MTA mobility tax in his 21-dayamendments to the 2010-11 Executive Budget that will help preservethat transit system as the economic lifeblood of the metropolitanregion. This revised proposal would ensure that the MTA willreceive previously projected mobility tax revenues in 2010 andfuture years in order to help mitigate the impact of theauthority’s budget difficulties on straphangers; improve regionalequity by introducing a two-tiered tax rate that brings taxcollections more in line with local ridership; and deliversubstantial additional tax relief for small businesses during thecurrent economic downturn.
The new proposal “makes key improvements to the current taxstructure, promoting regional equity and delivering relief to smallbusinesses, the governor said in a statement to the press.
The amended proposal eliminates the current flat mobility taxstructure (0.34 percent of payroll for all Metropolitan CommuterTransportation District (MCTD) counties). It cuts the tax rate inhalf for businesses outside of New York City in the MCTD to 0.17percent. It also increases the tax rate for New York Citybusinesses to 0.54 percent of payroll. Under the new proposal, NewYork City businesses would now contribute 88 percent of allmobility tax revenues, up from 70 percent. This will ensure a moreequitable distribution of tax liability in line with the fact thatNew York City is the destination for over 90 percent of weekdayridership.
The new structure will restore 2010 MTA mobility tax revenues to$1.54 billion, which is equal to original projections (netadditional revenue of approximately $230 million for MTA). It alsoaddresses projected out-year deterioration, providing more than$200 million in additional annual revenue on an ongoing basis in2011 and beyond.
Self-employed individuals and partners with income below$100,000 would be exempt from the payroll tax, up from the currentthreshold of $10,000. As a result, an additional 400,000 smallbusinesses would now be exempt from the payroll tax.
