Senator Charles Schumer was sounding like a savior today for two agencies recently experiencing major budget woes: the Department of Education and the MTA. Schumer indicated that $1.8 billion of the stimulus bill that arrived in the Senate today should be heading toward city schools saying, "If they were to use that money to prevent massive layoffs of teachers, that would be the intention of what the money is for and that's a good thing." The mayor did not take any stimulus money toward education for granted in last Friday's "Doomsday budget." Schumer also proposed an amendment to the $819 billion stimulus package, calling for money going toward transit to nearly double the allocated amount to around $15 billion. While that money could not go toward the MTA's budget deficit that will likely lead to a fare increase, it could be used towards maintenance and new projects like the Second Avenue Subway.
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A corporate payroll tax, paid by businesses in the region, of less than 1%.While it's unclear how lawmakers might react to a corporate tax (and some "told the Post that the idea was a non-starter"), Paterson said, "As an alternative to a fare hike, I think it's very viable.. [the commission] found a way to reduce the fare increases to 8% by distributing the responsibility among all those who use the service." He added, "We are in a very difficult fiscal time, and so it's either going to be fare hikes, or it's going to be tolls and a combination of payroll taxes."
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Results tagged “mtacrisis”
Schumer Tries to Steer Stimulus Money to MTA and DOE
Paterson Recommends Less Severe MTA Fare Hike-- And Tolls for East River Crossings
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