Malliotakis says state failing to curb MTA debt
The recently adopted New York state budget “strikes a fatal blow” to efforts made by fiscally conservative lawmakers to bring fiscal accountability to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis charged.
Malliotakis (R-C-Bay Ridge-Staten Island), a longtime critic of the MTA, said the new $150 billion state budget authorizes the agency to increase its debt limit from $37.2 billion to $55 billion. Malliotakis, who called the new debt limit “unsustainable,” warned that the authorization makes the MTA a runaway train and will lead to fare hikes and service cuts in the future.
She charged that the debt limit increase approved by the legislature allows the MTA to issue more debt than the entire state of New York. The state’s debt cap is an estimated $47 billion, according to Malliotakis.
“The MTA is already the fifth-largest municipal debtor in the nation with $36 million in debt. Instead of being responsible and using the state’s surplus or court settlement funds to pay down this debt, legislators took the unconscionable action of allowing the mismanaged agency to issue more bonds, take on more debt, and kick the can so far down the road that it can never be brought back,” Malliotakis said in a statement.
