MTA MULLS CUTBACKS IN SECURITY COST AGENCY FACES $112 MILLION DEFICIT.Byline: RACHEL URANGA Staff Writer With a financial crisis looming, the head of the MTA (1) (Message Transfer Agent or Mail Transfer Agent) The store and forward part of a messaging system. See messaging system. (2) See M Technology Association. 1. (messaging) MTA - Message Transfer Agent. proposed Wednesday trimming $12 million from a $112 million budget deficit by reducing security costs, freezing managerial jobs and delaying the purchase of 40 vehicles. The plan came on the heels of a report by the American Public Transportation Association The American Public Transportation Association is a Washington, DC based non-profit organization that serves as an advocate for the advancement of public transportation programs and initiatives in the United States since the organization's founding in 1882. , which found that the MTA spent twice as much on security as transit agencies in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden , Chicago and Washington, D.C. -- 40 cents versus 20 cents per passenger boarding. ``We are not looking at reducing the uniform presence at stations but seeing how we might be able to remove some of the administrative costs administrative costs, n.pl the overhead expenses incurred in the operation of a dental benefits program, excluding costs of dental services provided. ,'' MTA chief Roger Snoble said at a news conference. Snoble contended that the MTA has been subsidizing the Sheriff Department's overhead costs overhead costs see fixed costs. and paying for helicopters and other services that go beyond its most basic needs. The contract with the Sheriff's Department is set to expire July 1, the start of the new fiscal year. Snoble said that by renegotiating administrative costs with the Sheriff's Department -- currently 16 percent, twice what the sheriff charges other cities -- the MTA wants to draw down the contract from $60 million to $50 million. But sheriff's officials defended their contract, saying they are charging a fair price to provide security on one of the nation's busiest mass-transit systems. ``We cannot do this without impacting the standard we set for a safe environment on buses and trains,'' said Dan Finkelstein, sheriff's commander for the transit police Transit police also known as transport police or transit enforcement, is a specialized police agency or unit employed by a common carrier, which could be a railroad, bus line, other transport carrier, or the state. . He points out that last year, the department cited more than 1,500 transit vandals and recovered more than $1 million in fines. The Sheriff's Department employs 110 fare inspectors and about 430 sworn officers to patrol buses and subways. Last year the MTA approved $2.2 million to install closed-circuit televisions in all trains, starting with the 121-car light-rail fleet and moving to the 104-car subway. The MTA board is poised today to vote on its budget for 2006-07. Agency officials propose closing the $112 million deficit by using dwindling dwin·dle v. dwin·dled, dwin·dling, dwin·dles v.intr. To become gradually less until little remains. v.tr. To cause to dwindle. See Synonyms at decrease. reserves instead of hiking fares, as some say is necessary. rachel.uranga(at)dailynews.com (818) 713-3741 |
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