View MTA Letter

New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. today issued a letter expressing concern about how the Metropolitan Transportation Authority reportedly wants to spend its $833 million surplus, a surplus that far exceeds the projected amount of $76 million from earlier this year.

The letter comes shortly after the MTA announced it would end the year with an $833 million surplus and could spend $481 million to build a deck over the west side rail yards to promote mixed-use development.

“Such a use would be highly speculative,” Thompson wrote in a letter to Peter Kalikow, Chairman of the MTA. “While it may enhance the MTA’s ability to sell development rights on the site, there is no guarantee that there will be demand for the site at or near the time such a project is completed. As we are all painfully aware, the MTA’s track record on real estate development is not encouraging.”

“As New Yorkers are forced to dig deep in their pockets, the MTA should focus on providing the high quality transportation services New Yorkers deserve.” Thompson continued, urging Kalikow that “Surplus funds should mean that the riding public will not have to dig even deeper for unnecessary fare increases.”

Thompson recommended that the MTA increase the public disclosure of its finances by adding an additional update in the spring.

“This year, the MTA is benefiting from a recovering economy and the unexpected persistence of a very active real estate market,” Thompson warned. “In other circumstances, the economy could move in the opposite direction and produce a large revenue shortfall in even as brief a period as that between the MTA budget adoption and the mid-year update.”

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