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Public
Employee Press Arbitration
set on expanding transit benefit as Obama stimulus hikes TransitChek savings
President Barack Obamas $787 billion economic
stimulus plan allows commuters to increase the tax-free deductions for public
transportation from their paychecks.
Under the citys transit benefit
for commuters who use local buses and subways, participants enrolled in the TransitChek
program may now deduct up to $230 each month tax-free from their pay for transportation
costs. The limit was $120 before President Obama signed the stimulus plan.
Subway
and bus riders are able to save hundreds of dollars a year through the transit
benefit.
The increase in the maximum allowable deduction will help express
bus users and will be of particular value to members who commute on the Long Island
Rail Road, Long Island MTA buses and the Metro-North Railroad if the city
implements the contract by extending the transit benefit to cover them.
Under
the unions 20052008 economic agreement, the city agreed to broaden
the benefit to cover members who use the three regional mass transit carriers,
but by late March the contract still had not been implemented.
Continuing
union pressure to extend the transit benefit including a demand for binding
arbitration on the issue led the city Office of Payroll Administration
to issue a new request for proposals to find a vendor to arrange for the service.
OPA officials said they hoped to select a vendor within weeks. But with no firm
resolution of the issue, the union is pushing for implementation of the contract
by proceeding to arbitration, said General Counsel Mary OConnell. The first
hearing was scheduled for April 2.
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