N.Y.-N.J. PORT AUTHORITY APPROVES $4.5-BILLION FISCAL 2002 BUDGET

N.Y.-N.J. PORT AUTHORITY APPROVES $4.5-BILLION FISCAL 2002 BUDGET    The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s board of commissioners on Tuesday approved a $4.5-billion 2002 fiscal-year budget that allows for expanded security, and restores services lost or curtailed in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
   The new budget covers the costs of augmented security at Port Authority facilities, including the ocean port, bridges, tunnels, and airports.
   Restored PATH service between New Jersey and lower Manhattan, and a new PATH station near the World Trade Center site are also part of the fiscal plan.
   Because the bistate agency’s “reserves were at an all-time high of $1.675 billion at the end of 2000, and its net income and net revenues were also at all-time highs, we have been able to absorb the fiscal shocks associated with the World Trade Center tragedy and its aftermath,” said Joseph J. Seymour, executive director of the Port Authority.
   The budget also includes funding for terminal improvements at Port Newark, N.J., and Howland Hook, on Staten Island, N.Y.