MTA: No stimulus funds will fill budget gap

Even as it faces another $400- million deficit that could result in deeper service cuts than those already planned, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has no plans to tap federal stimulus dollars to help fill its budget gap, an agency spokesman said.

Federal law allows transit agencies to divert up to 10 percent of their stimulus allocations - which are supposed to go to capital projects - to fund operating needs instead.

MTA chief executive and chairman Jay Walder has balked at the idea of using the stimulus dollars, which a spokesman said amounted to less than $80 million, despite increasing calls from transit advocates and even some MTA board members.

"The whole point of the stimulus is to deal with a troubled economy," said Gene Russianoff, spokesman for the Straphangers Campaign. "By using the money on operations, you know you're going to save hundreds and hundreds of jobs and keep people working."

But MTA spokesman Jeremy Soffin said Walder's stance is unchanged, despite plans to cut service throughout the MTA, including on the Long Island Rail Road, which stands to lose most services to Greenport, and Long Island Bus, which may lose 15 lines.

"The principle remains the same," Soffin said. "And the principle is that we think it's a bad idea to use money that is allocated for capital projects to fill one-time operating budget deficits."

Soffin added that it was "too early to know exactly what will be needed to fill the gap."

What's more, he said, tapping into stimulus funds would be no panacea, given the relatively low amount available.

The MTA's recently proposed service cuts will save the agency about $120 million a year. And it still has to find another $400 million in savings.

Some MTA board members, including New York City Transit Committee chairwoman Doreen Frasca, have supported using the stimulus dollars to avert some of the worst cuts.

But board member Mitchell Pally, who sits on the MTA's Long Island Committee, sides with Walder and said diverting stimulus dollars into the operating budget may just give federal lawmakers a reason not to come through with additional funding.

More than a dozen transit agencies throughout the country have elected to use some of their stimulus dollars to help cover operating costs. But even among those that have, some now don't advise such a move.

"I think our folks would recommend that the MTA chief hold to his guns on not using stimulus funding . . . unless it's an absolute last resort," said Linton Johnson, spokesman for Bay Area Rapid Transit.

BART avoided massive layoffs and deep service cuts by "reluctantly" using about $14 million in stimulus funds, with hopes the economy will rebound later this year. But the agency's deeper economic problems, such as out-of-control overtime for workers, remain. "It just plugs a temporary problem," Johnson said. "Then you're right back where you started."