Once again the Port Authority (PAT) has approved a budget with a funding hole wide enough to drive a bus through. Today they approved a budget with a $47 million deficit. Obviously they are hoping that someone else, namely taxpayers, will bail them out. They have every reason to act this way. Time and time again over the last decade they have stared at a deficit only to see help come fromthe Governor who diverted federal road and bridge money. Meanwhile they have not engaged in any meaningful reforms on their own.

The only difference this time is that the State is facing its own debt problem and bailing out the troubled transit system this time will be very difficult to do. Of course that is not stopping PAT from threatening to cut service by 30 percent and laying off 500 employees. It will be interesting to see if state lawmakers break this cycle and force real reforms or if Harrisburg once again throws more taxpayer money at PAT only to see the problem repeat itself in the future.