Governor David Paterson and legislative leaders have announced today that any state bailout for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) will not include tolls on the East and Harlem River Bridges.
“The framework I see is that the Senate has really eliminated what my choice would be, which would be to have the tolls. If that’s the case, then we’re going to have to try to find alternative ways to come up with several hundred million dollars that would replace what would have been the revenues generated by the tolls,” said Gov. Paterson.
The State Senate’s Democrat majority has taken the tolls completely off the table, most senate republicans are also against the tolls. Another proposal to bailout the MTA’s massive fare and toll hike would be an increase in payroll tax; a business tax within the counties served by the transit authority.
