CTY verrazano

The MTA will soon announce the specifics of next year's toll hike along with a series of public hearings.(Staten Island Advance/Bill Lyons)

(Bill Lyons)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Verrazano Bridge toll is poised to climb again in 2015.

The hike will be part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's biennial, 4 percent fare increase for its services, including New York City Transit buses and subways. The MTA will soon announce the specifics of next year's hike along with a series of public hearings.

These hikes were established in a 2009 budget agreement, which looks to keep up with inflation adjustments and the rising health-care, pension and benefits costs of the agency's employees.

Despite the MTA facing a $15 billion capital budget shortage, Chairman Tom Prendergast confirmed that next year's fare hike will stick to plan.

"If we [look] back to the July mid-year forecast: we were projecting still biennial fare increases and staying within the 2 percent-a-year increase for the cost of living. So that would make our hikes 4 percent," said Prendergast after Wednesday's board meeting.

Over the next few weeks, the MTA will hash out just how to implement the 4 percent increase before bringing a plan to a board vote in December.

The authority has some leeway on just how to do this. For instance, the last hike in 2013 jacked up the cash toll of the Verrazano from $13 to $15 and the E-ZPass toll from $5.76 to $6.36 (with the toll rolling back to $6 per trip after the third trip). The base fare for bus and subway rides, as well as the Staten Island Railway, rose a quarter to $2.50, and express bus rides increased 50 cents to an even $6.

But Prendergast deflected questions on hike minutiae.

"We're going to follow the process and procedure ... We can hold the hearings and follow the process that we normally follow," he said. "And that's as much as I can tell you because that's as much dialogue that's been had so far."