Fitch Ratings, the smallest of the big three credit agencies, has cut the rating on the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)’s $14.3 billion in debt that is backed by transportation revenues. Fitch dropped the rating from A+ to A.screen-shot-2011-09-09-at-10806-pm-1242497

One big problem? “Significant new debt” for the $23.8 billion capital plan, which will strain the operating budget for decades.

Fitch’s analysis points up the importance of labor savings, particularly on health care, in the next round of contracts.

Without wage freezes, new and bigger worker healthcare contributions, and other measures that the MTA wants to take, labor costs are going up 3.7 percent a year, to $8.3 billion in 2015, up from $6.9 billion now. The drivers are “significant increases in health … costs as well as pension benefits.”

Fitch is also worried that fare hikes scheduled for 2013 may not yield as much as the MTA thinks.

You may also like

Pols Craft More Handouts for Sinking Construction Unions

New York’s construction unions, facing a decades-long decline, are employing a time-honored tactic: getting state government to stop people from competing with them. Read More

Union Rallies Long Island Pols Against NYC Kids

New York’s statewide teachers union has been cashing in political chits as it seeks to block new charter schools from opening in New York City, asking the senators and assemblymembers Read More

MTA’s Casino Funding Takes Voters For A Ride

As the Legislature prepares to authorize new downstate casinos, some voters who supported the amendment are discovering they came up snake-eyes. Read More

Utility board turns into union tool

The idea that the PSC would artificially drive electricity costs higher to benefit a political constituency represents a new low. Read More

New Docs Raise Big Questions About NY’s Megafab Mega-Deal

The Hochul Administration published a pair of documents concerning the Micron Megafab deal that raise more questions than they answer. Read More

City union scandal isn’t NY’s first

One of New York City’s largest public-sector unions has been effectively taken over by its national parent after an audit revealed extensive financial mismanagement. It’s the latest example of misconduct made possible under New York’s public-sector collective bargaining rules that force the government to collect hundreds of millions of dollars annually without any safeguards on how the funds are spent.  Read More

Firefighter-rights bill torches local control

Two of Albany’s most-vetoed concepts are headed toward Governor Hochul’s desk, this time concealed as a “firefighter bill of rights.”  Read More

Still-Unreleased Union Deal Rains Cash on State Workers

The still-unreleased deal between the Hochul Administration and the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), state government’s largest group of unionized workers, would award bonuses, backpay, and guaranteed raises the next three years, documents sent to union members show. Read More