With the state budget deadline approaching at the end of the week, lawmakers are hearing last-minute pitches from powerful people.

Yesterday, it was Mayor Adams. Today, it was the head of the MTA.

With a $2 billion deficit that is only growing, the MTA needs money. In Albany, MTA Chief Janno Lieber made his case to lawmakers for more funding.

“Yeah, it’s Tick-Tock for the state budget to get done and the MTA’s existence and our ability to provide service for our riders is on the ballot,” Lieber said. “So, I’m here talking to all the leaders about our priorities. So we want to make sure we do what Governor Hochul’s budget did, which is [to] protect the riders.”

What You Need To Know

  • MTA CEO Janno Lieber was in Albany to ask lawmakers to help fill a $2 billion hole in the agency’s budget

  • Lieber said he supports Hochul’s plan to fund the agency, not those put forth by the legislature

  • Meantime, NYCHA tenants rallied for money to pay back rent

Lieber has been advocating for Hochul’s negotiating position on MTA funding, which calls for a new commuter tax and a larger contribution from the city.

The legislature is pushing two more unorthodox plans. One would authorize free bus service to bring more riders into the system. The other would establish paid parking permits in neighborhoods throughout the city.

“I’m open to all kinds of ideas but they have to be certain, they have to be certain that they will produce recurring revenue, parking permits, all kinds of stuff like that, interesting, maybe worth talking about, for the riders I need to have certainty that it is going to produce revenue in the right time frame, I would proceed with some caution with some of those new, albeit innovative ideas,” Lieber said.

Another issue advocates are fighting for in the budget is back rent for NYCHA tenants.

At a rally Tuesday, NYCHA residents asked for $385 million in the budget to help those tenants who are in arrears.

“What we are talking about today is fully funding the remaining need,” Democratic State Senator Brian Kavanagh of Manhattan said. “Making sure everyone who applied for that program gets their rent arrears paid just like everybody else.”

Last year, the legislature approved billions of dollars for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program or ERAP. But NYCHA tenants were last on the list of recipients, and many got no money at all.

“I think that whoever made that calculation thought, well, the city won’t evict NYCHA tenants because they are the landlord,” Democratic Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal of Manhattan said. “So, let’s give money to landlords and tenants who might be evicted. But that is the wrong calculation.”

The MTA deficit is a direct result of ridership falling off during COVID.

The same is true for tens of thousands of renters. Many of whom fell behind on their rent during COVID, and had trouble paying the debt back.