MTA Faces Years of Debt Without Federal Funding

The MTA will face years of financial debt if the federal government does not grant them desperately needed funds, the State Comptroller said in a new report.

“Failure to fund the MTA now could disrupt maintenance and repairs and increase the MTA’s debt to suffocating levels that could take multiple generations to recover from,” state comptroller Tom DiNapoli said Tuesday. “Washington needs to step up to help the MTA if our regional economy is going to fully recover.”

MTA officials are entreating $12 billion from President Trump and Congress amid depleted toll and tax revenue since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The agency will need $3.9 billion to end the year, officials say.

MTA Chairman Pat Foye said service cuts and layoffs would begin in November if the federal government does not bailout.

According to DiNapoli’s analysis, without funds, the MTA is expected to top $50 billion in debt by 2024. There is a $10 billion borrowing option, but he warns of the agency’s tremendous preexisting debt and says this would only further drown them.

Photo: Marc A. Hermann / MTA New York City Transit