The MTA found a billion dollars in extra cash in its proverbial couch cushions.
The cash is a combination of real estate tax income, less money paid out to pensions, lower energy costs, and other money streams, officials said.
“We have had more favorable labor settlements and lower energy costs,” said Robert Foran, MTA’s chief financial officer.
The found cash is only a drop in the bucket compared to the agency’s massive $14.8 billion deficit in its five-year capital plan.
The agency tentatively plans to put part of the cash toward service improvements that could lead to reduced wait times on platforms and at bus stops, and more select bus service across the city.
“Every day, we are seeing increased ridership, with challenges for them and challenges for us, and we have to make a commitment to commit resources to address those issues,” said MTA chairman Thomas Prendergast.
The city also agreed on Tuesday to discuss the agency’s 2-month-old request to raise its contribution to the MTA’s capital budget from $40 million a year to $300 million along with an additional $1 billion to put toward the next phase of the Second Avenue subway plan.
“Given the urgency of the situation, the city is ready and willing to work with the state to develop sound, long-term solutions,” wrote deputy mayor Anthony Shorris. “With partisan gridlock paralyzing Washington, there is no sign of increased federal funding for transportation on the horizon. It is therefore up to us to work together to come up with new revenue sources to meet this extraordinary challenge.”
The MTA has called the city’s past offerings paltry and said the agency hopes that the city will agree to more substantial contributions this time around, especially since $800 billion of its physical assets are in the Big Apple and $22 billion of the agency’s $29 billion capital plan is for projects here.
“The city has to be a major player,” Prendergast said. “That is where a lot of the infrastructure is and where the benefit is.”
Agency officials also said they hope to keep the fare and toll increases to 2 percent a year — equal to inflation — with increases of 4 percent in both 2017 and 2019.