MTA funding in danger

To the editor:

The recent announcement by the MTA that due to ongoing litigation against implementation of congestion pricing, $15 billion in capital projects within the 2020-2024 five-year capital plan, including the $7.7 billion Second Avenue Subway are now on hold (“Congestion pricing suits jeopardizing MTA projects, authority says,” The Chief, Feb. 23). 

This places $3.4 billion in the federal grant money dedicated to the subway project in jeopardy.

The MTA previously accepted the terms and conditions within the Federal Transit Administration grant offer. This included a legal commitment that the $4.3 billion in local share was real, secure and in place. FTA caps its funding at $3.4 billion based upon the MTA's commitment of a secure $4.3 billion local share. MTA's local share was based upon implementation of congestion pricing.

Placing the project officially on hold and failure to proceed with advancing the project will

eventually result in FTA de-obligating its funding and closing out the grant.

MTA would lose $3.4 billion in discretionary federal funding. Never in MTA history has the authority lost FTA funding due to reneging on providing its legally required matching local share. MTA Chairman Janno Lieber would be the first MTA chairman to do so and have egg on his face. 

The federal Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General will be monitoring FTA to insure that the agency enforces all legal requirements as contained in the FTA $7.7 billion Second Avenue Subway FFGA to MTA.

Governor Kathy Hochul and Lieber need to be fully transparent in trying to resolve this issue.

Larry Penner

The writer is a former Federal Transit Administration NY Region 2 director for the Office of Operations and Program Management.