The MTA plans to deprioritize accessible subway stations, modern signals, electric buses and other upgrades now that Gov. Kathy Hochul has postponed congestion pricing with no clear revenue replacement.
MTA officials broke their silence for the first time since Hochul’s surprise announcement Wednesday with an uncharacteristically curt statement issued late Friday that notes the agency’s board must reassess what to prioritize. The fundamental reappraisal of the MTA’s capital projects means that essential maintenance work will be prioritized while service expansions such as phase two of the Second Avenue subway and the Interborough Express light rail that would create a new connection between Brooklyn and Queens are likely to be sidelined.
“Until there is a commitment for funding the balance of the 2020-2024 Capital Program, the MTA will need to reorganize the Program to prioritize the most basic and urgent needs,” MTA Chief Financial Officer Kevin Willens and General Counsel Paige Graves said in the joint statement, which does not name MTA board chair and chief executive Janno Lieber. Willens and Graves are MTA staff, while Lieber is appointed by the governor.
In the lead-up to the MTA’s next full board meeting on June 26, the authority’s board members will evaluate which projects to prioritize in its current $54.8 billion capital program, according to Willens and Graves. Revenue generated by charging most motorists $15 to enter Manhattan below 60th street represented 30% of the MTA’s current capital program, and more than 50% of the remaining projects in the program.
Lawmakers in Albany adjourned Friday without determining a revenue replacement for the $1 billion in annual toll revenue congestion pricing was expected to generate for the MTA and allow it to raise $15 billion in bonds to fund system modernization and service improvements. Hochul had initially floated the possibility of raising taxes on New York City businesses, and then a one-year IOU promising $1 billion to the MTA from the state’s general fund, as alternatives to congestion pricing revenue, but the legislature rejected both proposals.
Legal experts and some MTA board members have questioned whether the authority’s board could vote to overrule Hochul, who next week is having a fundraiser hosted by the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association. The association is a lobbying group for car dealers in the New York metro area, and in an email to subscribers noted its opposition to congestion pricing. At a late Friday news conference, Hochul emphasized that congestion pricing is on a temporary pause, but gave no timeline on when the tolling program could launch.
The MTA’s statement late Friday suggested that the agency board is unlikely to challenge Hochul’s order.
“New York State law places an obligation on MTA to implement a congestion pricing program, and the agency stands ready to do so,” the statement said. “But under applicable federal law and regulation, the MTA cannot act until the Central Business District Tolling Program is approved by New York State, New York City and the federal government – and with the announcement of the pause, we no longer have the State’s consent.”
Caroline Spivack , 2024-06-08 21:46:06
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