"It's not the ideal, but I don't know that the votes are there for the governor's plan," Fumo said.
Gov. Rendell wants to lease the turnpike to a private operator to generate $965 million a year for highways and bridge projects. He also has proposed a tax on oil company profits to raise $760 million a year for mass transit.
Fumo said his proposal would provide $400 million a year for highways, $350 million for transit, and $50 million in reserve. He said the legislation would establish annual increases to keep up with inflation.
About 70 percent of state transit funding typically goes to SEPTA, which faces a $129 million operating deficit for the fiscal year that begins July 1. If SEPTA got 70 percent of $350 million, that would mean $245 million for the transit authority.
Under the Fumo plan, I-80 would not be converted into a toll road for three years, and toll increases on the turnpike would be deferred until 2010.
Fumo said the fact that his proposal would not require new taxes would be key in winning support in the Republican-controlled Senate.
The legislature faces a June 30 deadline for adopting a new budget.
"A lot of people, even in my caucus, want to go to heaven, but they don't want to die," Fumo said of the desire to fund transit without raising taxes.
County officials have urged legislators from suburban Philadelphia counties to oppose a lease.
In recent letters to local legislators, officials in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties said they opposed the turnpike lease and were more supportive of the turnpike commission's proposal to raise money by borrowing, adding $1 tolls in urban areas, and making I-80 a toll road. Fumo's plan does not include the urban surcharges.
