As the Delaware River Port Authority continues to wrestle with calls for reform from both within and outside the organization, the agency has announced that it’ll seek to develop next year’s budget with a goal to cut costs across the board.

KYW’s David Madden reports the agency’s current $130 million operational budget will be two percent lower next year, if DRPA CEO John Matheussen has anything to say about it. He’s told department heads to trim costs and plans to impose a hiring freeze:

“We need to continue to work to make certain that we’re spending appropriately the least amount of money we possibly can to make certain that our bridges are safe, that our operations are secure and that everything remains serviceable.”

He’s confident the cuts will be achieved. Now, as for the dollar increase in bridge tolls and ten percent average hike in Patco fares set for next July, they’re still on.

Matheussen says that money is already targeted to capital projects like rehabbing Patco trains and re-decking the Walt Whitman Bridge.