Dire budgetary predictions emanated from Hartford, Trenton, Albany, and New York City last week, raising concern that transportation budgets will face tough competition for funds in coming years. Where surpluses were expected, lowered revenue and higher cost estimates are leading administrations around the region to warn of looming deficits. 

The Connecticut Comptroller announced last Monday that the state already faces a projected 2001-2002 deficit of $91 million. Last week, Governor Rowland put forward a series of spending cuts intended to close the gap. His list includes shaving $12 million from $49 million dedicated earlier this year to low-cost transportation projects. These include construction of additional New Haven Line rail maintenance facilities, more rail station commuter shuttles, and expanded bus routes and service in Fairfield County and the Hartford area. Beyond the creation of a new quasi-governmental forum for long-term transportation planning - the permanent Transportation Strategy Board - the additional funding was the only concrete outcome of a legislative session focused on statewide transportation problems. Almost two-thirds of Rowland's proposed cuts, including the transportation money, would require legislative approval. State Senate Democrat Kevin Sullivan told the Hartford Courant that money for transportation reform and mental health should be protected, remarking that "the most important priorities facing the state ought not to be hit first."

The NJ Office of Legislative Services told the Trenton Times last week that revenue projections for the current fiscal year had been reduced by hundreds of millions of dollars before September and were likely to drop even more in coming months. NJ Transit released a document prior to the attacks showing the agency would begin operating at an annual deficit of $85 million in fiscal year 2003, growing to $184 million annually by 2006, and that unmet capital needs over the next five fiscal years for projects already begun equals $1.3 billion. 

New York State Budget Director Carole Stone announced Friday that the state is likely to face a loss of $1 to $3 billion in personal and corporate tax revenue over the current fiscal year and as much as twice that in 2002-2003. Warning that state emergency reserve funds stand at just $2.6 billion, she suggested that there may be no supplement to the "base-line" budget approved by the state legislature this summer as a political maneuver. The Legislature is expected to consider additions to the current fiscal budget on October 15th. Such an outcome could be disastrous to the operating budgets of many transit providers across the state (see article at right). 

The New York City budget office told the New York Times last week that the projected 2003 fiscal year deficit had doubled since the September 11 attacks from $2 billion to $4 billion. While the Federal Emergency Management Agency is expected to pay for the more than $40 billion in property and infrastructure damage and clean-up costs from the events of September 11th, FEMA traditionally does not cover revenue or productivity losses.

MTA’s Big Bond Deal on Hold - June 18, 2001

Hartford: Approval Expected for Strategy Board - June 25, 2001

NJ Transit Budget Rises, But Long-Term Deficits Still Loom - February 26, 2001

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