Chester County lawmaker eyes plan to protect Philly-area tax revenue — and SEPTA

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With SEPTA staring down the barrel of a $213 million budget deficit, one Pennsylvania lawmaker is mulling an unprecedented idea to avoid future lapses in funding amid stalled negotiations.

State Rep. Melissa Shusterman, D-Chester, believes southeastern Pennsylvania should make decisions with its own state tax revenue if rural Republican legislators won’t fully fund SEPTA.

“We are not okay with our tax dollars going to the rest of the state while we face those cuts,” Shusterman told WHYY News.

SEPTA is set to face a 20% service reduction Aug. 24 during its first round of cuts after lawmakers failed to pass a state budget in time.

Shusterman wants to divide Pennsylvania’s 67 counties into three economic categories. Each group would share its portion of collected state tax revenue to fund line items currently under discussion during budget negotiations in Harrisburg — including public transportation. She illustrated how the counties would be grouped in a memo released last week.

Shusterman said she didn’t want to circulate the controversial memo.

“Our back is against the wall. Southeast Pennsylvania brings in 40% of the revenue for the state and SEPTA — mass transit — it’s our backbone,” Shusterman said.

SEPTA cuts threaten Main Line ‘economic engine’

A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, R-Indiana, did not respond to a request for comment.

“Southeast Pennsylvania and other urban-suburban areas fund our state coffers and we’re okay with that,” Shusterman said. “We’ll fund the roads and bridges that rural Pa. uses for transportation. We’re on board with that, but we need to be able to keep enough of that funding to ensure our own mass transit runs.”

SEPTA’s doomsday scenario is set to strip her constituents on the Main Line of Regional Rail service on the Paoli/Thorndale line.

Passenger trains have been chugging through her district since the 19th century. Commuters and local business leaders are sounding the alarm on the economic impact it would have on southeastern Pennsylvania.

“We are the driver — the economic engine of the entire state. And in order for the entire state to do well, southeast Pennsylvania must prosper. And isn’t that what we would all want? Putting SEPTA into a death spiral will hurt the state’s economy,” Shusterman said.

A spokesperson for Gov. Josh Shapiro did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the memo.