Comptroller: New Yorkers Paying 'Invisible Fare' Of $130 A Month To Run MTA

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- New York City is spending so much to run the Metropolitan Transportation Authority that it amounts to an "invisible fare" of $130 a month per household, City Comptroller Scott Stringer charges is a new report.

Stringer said an analysis by his office shows that in addition to the $5.3 billion city residents paid in fares and tolls last year, New Yorkers paid $4.8 billion in taxes, subsidies and direct expenditures to the MTA.

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The $4.8 billion includes taxes and fees levied on city residents such as the 50-cent-a-ride taxi surcharge as well as $612.5 million for debt service payments and policing the subway system, Stringer said.

"Straphangers are being asked to pay twice," Stringer told WCBS 880. "They get their right pocket picked, and they get their left pocket picked. And it's time that we come up with a comprehensive plan for a real capital plan to close the budget gaps at the MTA."

Stringer said New York City contributed 68 percent of the MTA's operating budget in fiscal year 2014 while New York state paid just 4 percent or $603.5 million.

Earlier this month, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the city is increasing its annual contribution to the transit agency to $125 million, up from $100 million.

But MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast has called for the city to triple its contribution to $300 million a year to help fill a $14 billion budget deficit,

Stringer said that both the state and federal governments need to do more to support mass transit.

"I find it incredible that the MTA chairman is asking New York City to spend even more for the MTA while not even discussing what the state should be paying for the MTA," the comptroller told 1010 WINS.

In a statement, the MTA said Stringer was using "fuzzy math to justify letting the city off the hook for using some of its billions in future surpluses to pay its fair share for mass transit."

Stringer took exception to that claim.

"The fact that the MTA can't understand simple addition is even more troubling," he said. "Anybody who takes the time to read this report understands the numbers."

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