newsday.com/news/local/ny-pojani0320-col,0,2271880.column Newsday.com Decisions made 9 years ago put MTA in current fix Dan Janison 9:30 PM EDT, March 19, 2009 Nine years ago, in collaboration with state officials, the mighty investment company Bear Stearns played a special role in shaping the course on which the region's transit system now finds itself. Not only did this financial titan advise the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on a five-year, $17-billion capital program, but more notably, its executives personally sold the plan to state lawmakers - helping generate commissions for the firm while temporarily funding mass transit. From today's perspective, of course, the deal represents fiscal risk and folly. Bear's collapse a year ago signaled other global financial failures to come, and the debts carried by the state-run MTA drive its latest threat of massive fare hikes and sharp service cuts. Watchdogs suggested that the Pataki administration and its sparring partners in the State Legislature were mortgaging the future. Policy makers, they believed, figured they'd derail from that track when they came to it. State Sen. Brian Foley's office yesterday cited data showing how MTA debt service payments of $609 million in 1996 have spiked to a forecast $1.5 billion in 2009. That works out to an estimated $125 million per month, said Ibrahim Kahn, spokesman for Foley (D-Blue Point). "Everyone predicted it, and it came true with a vengeance," Gene Russianoff, of the city's Straphangers' Campaign, said Tuesday, following a news conference with Gov. David A. Paterson aimed at prodding state senators to act on a painful new revenue plan. Lee Sander, the MTA's executive director, said: "In 2000, Albany put our entire capital program on a credit card." Beyond the problems that usually come with overborrowing, the due date for this huge credit card arrives at an especially uncertain time. Fiscally, all levels of governments face major pressure as the economy contracts and credit tightens. And politically, the MTA crunch hits just as Paterson struggles with his clout - and new Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith looks around for some. With Paterson well aware of the MTA problem, a commission headed by former MTA chairman Richard Ravitch called for new tolls on the East River bridges, for fare hikes on subways, buses and the Long Island Rail Road estimated at 8 percent, and for a tax on payrolls in the MTA region, which includes Long Island, the city and its northern suburbs. Without the plan, the MTA and Ravitch commission are threatening 23 percent more fare revenues and deep service cuts. Legislators say they are attempting to negotiate a deal. Smith's Democratic majority stands at a minimal 32-30. The Ravitch plan is a tough lift. The freshly defeated Republican minority, led by Dean Skelos (R- Rockville Centre), has unsurprisingly shown itself to be in no mood to help take the weight for painful measures. So while the Assembly backs a variation on the plan, the Senate majority has been stalling. First, Smith called for an audit of MTA finances. Then Finance Committee chairman Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn) floated a non-starter borrowing gimmick. Then the majority submitted a plan that Paterson and the MTA say falls $1 billion short, ignores capital needs and continues to burden counties such as Nassau with big bus costs. All involved say they are trying their best for a fair fiscal plan. But as the spotlight falls on a divided Senate, the route remains murky, like everything else financial and political these days. Copyright © 2009, Newsday Inc.