UPDATE: A correction has been made to this story. See below.
To help balance its fiscal year 2012 budget, the MBTA Advisory Board is proposing to transfer some of the T’s transportation services to the Masssachusetts Port Authority and merging the MBTA police units with the State Police.
The advisory board proposal would transfer $4.1 million in ferry subsidy costs to Massport. Currently, the MBTA runs ferries to Charlestown, Hull, Hingham, and Quincy.
Paul Regan, the advisory board’s executive director, said Massport is better suited to running ferries than the T. He also said a private bus line that services Winthrop, where many Massport employees live, would also go over to Massport under the advisory board proposal, saving the T about $1.2 million in fiscal 2012.
The most complex aspect of the plan would revise the formula that requires the MBTA to pay Massport when riders use the Silver Line that runs from South Station to Logan Airport. Under the current arrangement, the MBTA is expected to pay the port agency an estimated $1.1 million next year.
Richard Davey, the MBTA’s general manager, called the advisory board’s plan a “cost shift.” He said certain elements of the plan might not make sense, noting that the port authority’s mission is focused on moving goods, not people.
The advisory board’s plan also includes a proposal transferring the MBTA’s police units to the State Police. The heads of two MBTA public safety unions, Robert Marino of the MBTA Police Patrolman’s Association, and Michael Flanagan of the MBTA Sergeants Association, spoke in favor of the plan, which would save the T an estimated $37 million.
Davey said the police merger has been studied previously and is unlikely to save any money. Administration officials say costs might actually rise, since T police officials are paid much less than State Police officers.
Matthew Brelis, a Massport spokesman, said that any MBTA proposal must meet certain stipulations. “Massport is severely constrained by federal law from expending airport revenue on projects that are not primarily airport related, with the limited exception of use of the revenues for the operation and capital improvement of its other existing facilities,” said Brelis. “The Authority would consider any proposal within that context.”
The advisory board says its proposal would give the MBTA roughly $44 million in savings next year and allow the T to avoid restructuring $33 million of its debt. The agency would also save more than $640 million over the next decade, the advisory board estimates.
CORRECTION: Due to incorrect information included in an MBTA Advisory board oversight analysis, CommonWealth reported that the MBTA pays some expenses for Blue Line airport shuttles. The T pays Massport for Silver Line airport service only.
