By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN— City officials have resurrected a plan to charge drivers to enter Manhattan on weekdays, this time saying they need the extra cash to help shore up MTA service cuts, according to reports.
Proponents of the plan, which would reportedly charge drivers $10 each to enter Lower Manhattan on weekdays, say it would provide revenue to restore some of last year's MTA service cuts and could stop an expected fare increase as well as reduce the payroll tax of businesses outside of the five boroughs, the New York Daily News reported.
Although Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 2008 proposal to levy an $8 fare for drivers entering Manhattan below 60th Street was rejected by the State Assembly, the new proposal already has a broad base of support.
"The MTA needs a sustainable funding source," Senator Daniel Squadron, who represents parts of Lower Manhattan, told the News.
"This has to be on the table," Squadron said to the paper.
Both the Working Families Party and the Partnership for New York City support the plan, the News reported.
The measure is seen as the most feasible way to plug up part of the MTA's $10 billion budget gap and stop the agency's expected seven percent fare increase for next year, according to the paper.
Governor Andrew Cuomo had yet to weigh in on the debate.
