Gov. Ed Rendell's plan to generate transit and highway money by taxing oil company profits and leasing the turnpike is on life support, state lawmakers said Friday, but they have no alternative to prevent a second round of route cuts and layoffs at Port Authority of Allegheny County.
"We were in Harrisburg on Tuesday, and the only positive news is more people are talking, but the prognosis is not real good," Port Authority CEO Steve Bland told the agency's board yesterday during its monthly meeting.
Legislators who met with Bland -- Republicans and Democrats -- said Rendell's tax and privatization plan is in trouble, if not dead.
"That is pretty close to accurate," said Rep. Joe Markosek, a Monroeville Democrat and chairman of the House Transportation Committee. "The gas oil profits tax is probably more dead than the turnpike leasing, but that's on life support as well."
If true, Port Authority's 240,000 daily riders could be smacked with a second round of service cuts -- on top of the upcoming June 17 reductions -- and more employees would lose their jobs, agency officials have warned.
The authority offered a job buyout to senior union workers yesterday that would save the agency up to $6,000 per employee next year and spare the jobs of younger workers. The authority would approve buyouts for up to 228 employees.
Port Authority projects an $80 million deficit for its upcoming fiscal year. It cut the shortfall to about $45 million in March by approving a 15 percent service cut, management changes and the elimination of 374 jobs starting June 17. A fare increase would be enacted in January but has not been set.
If lawmakers do not help, the authority intends to vote in June to an additional 10 percent cut.
PennDOT spokesman Rich Kirkpatrick said talk of Rendell's plan as being dead is speculation.
"The run-up to any tough budget decision usually features a lot of speculation about what is dead or not," he said. "At this point, two months before the end of the fiscal year, the governor has a very specific plan on the table to deal with a very real and far-reaching issue."
Legislative leaders said alternatives will surface in May and June. Sen. Barry Stout -- a Bentleyville Democrat and minority chair of the Senate Transportation Committee -- said lawmakers have no choice but to find a solution.
"Some people are going to have to get serious here," Stout said. "People talk and talk and talk. I want to see your vote."
Rendell has pitched his plan during stops across the state recently. Taxing oil companies would generate $760 million, and leasing the turnpike for 30 years would generate an estimated $965 million, he said.
Legislators are concerned whether oil companies will pass on the expense of the tax to consumers and whether the tax is legal.
It's possible for lawmakers to approve leasing the turnpike but kill the oil tax proposal, said Rep. Rick Geist, R-Altoona, the minority chairman of the House Transportation Committee.
Lawmakers complain that they want to read the details of Rendell's plan.
"We haven't seen anything," Geist said. "We met with him the first week of February, and we still haven't seen anything. I'm feeling very much in the dark."
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