On Monday night, June 21, the legislature completed action on the transportation budget bill and the companion Article VII bill. The appropriations for State Transit Operating Assistance (STOA) in the enacted budget bill are the same as those proposed in the Executive Budget that was released in January. The following table lists the total STOA appropriations for fiscal year ending 2011 in comparison to the prior fiscal year.

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Action Alert: Call Your Legislators to Preserve STOA

Critical Budget Extender in Jeopardy

The possibility of a cutoff of state spending and a partial government shutdown may become real as some members in the legislature may not vote for the next budget extender bill due Monday to keep the state functioning normally. We have been told that the next extender will include an additional $140-million in STOA allocations in addition to a number of unpopular cuts in human services programs and possibly revenue raisers such as an increase in the tobacco tax.

Beginning today until late Monday evening, it will be imperative that NYPTA members call their Senators and Assemblymembers and urge that they pass the upcoming extender bill as any protracted delay in service payments for public transportation systems may result in employee layoffs and/or additional service reductions. Rejecting these payments would also adversely impact the more than 8 million residents who uses these services on a daily basis and may result in increased demand on the State for unemployment benefits, social services and/or lost payroll and sales tax revenues.

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