Gov. Kathy Hawkle is considering proposing to reduce Manhattan’s congestion fee but would not impose the fee on city employees such as police officers or teachers, The Washington Post has learned.
It’s unclear how far the governor plans to push for a Midtown road tax after abruptly shelving a controversial $15 toll plan in June, but in any case, she likely won’t make the proposal until after the bitter November election campaign to help other Democrats, sources said.
Hawkle is also considering pushing for exemptions for New York City government employees, including police officers, firefighters, paramedics and teachers, who commute to work in the zone south of 59th Street, according to a source briefed on his thinking.
“[The governor] “we, [the toll]”She will be reviewing the figures,” said the official, who asked not to be named.
The official said the governor also volunteered that he would need to consider possible exemptions for city employees.
“That’s something the governor mentioned as well,” the source said.
If both ideas become reality, Hoekl and state lawmakers would have to find other sources of funding for the MTA’s capital plan to make up for lost revenue from the changes, sources said.
The MTA’s board is scheduled to vote on its 2025-29 capital plan next month, but the plan has already suffered a major setback since the planned $15 toll was scrapped, which was expected to bring in as much as $1 billion a year in revenue for transit maintenance, new rail cars and expansion.
An earlier environmental assessment of the plan by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which received federal approval, said tolls could be as low as $9 and as high as $23 during peak periods for drivers entering Manhattan’s central business district.
The MTA’s Transportation Mobility Review Board recommended a peak-hour toll of $15 for motorists and up to $36 for truckers, with lower tolls at night. Proponents said the toll system would reduce congestion and pollution and provide a permanent source of revenue for the public transportation agency.
Opponents questioned those purported benefits, adding that the cost would be hugely disruptive to everyday New York life, currently struggling.
The MTA, which is responsible for collecting tolls, had already spent $500 million installing toll readers and other technology before Hawkle suddenly reversed course and ordered an indefinite “pause” on the program.
There was speculation that Hokel, who had previously been a cheerleader for the new fees, had caved in to pressure from the Democratic White House and fellow Democrats. House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York called for Democrats to delay or reverse the tolls in order to help them regain control of the House of Representatives.
Republicans had planned to use the unpopular toll as a cudgel against Democrats in New York’s six battleground House races.
Hawkle denied that in June, saying he took the measure because New Yorkers are still struggling financially after the pandemic and the new $15 toll would be too much of a burden.
“Governor Hokur’s position has not changed and congestion pricing remains suspended indefinitely,” a spokesperson for the governor told The Washington Post in an email on Sunday.
“Like the vast majority of New Yorkers, Governor Hockle believes a $15-a-day toll is too expensive for workers trying to get by in the current economic climate,” his rep John Lindsay wrote. “That’s why, as the Governor has stated publicly many times, he is exploring multiple options with legislative leaders to fund transportation while the pause continues.”
The tolls remain highly unpopular.
A Siena College poll released last week found that 59% of New York voters want to completely abolish congestion pricing in Manhattan.
Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella, who is a co-plaintiff with the United Teachers Union in a federal lawsuit seeking to block the tolls, said any new fees to get into Midtown are unacceptable and likened it to putting a camel’s trunk in a tent.
“This is bad policy. Lowering tolls won’t help. It’s a money-making scam,” Fossella, a Republican, told The Washington Post.
State lawmakers said Governor Hawkle has not yet made a formal proposal, and one likely won’t come until he presents his 2025 state policy agenda in January.
“Nobody has offered me an alternative,” said state Senate Finance Committee Chairwoman Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan).
Supporters of congestion pricing said lowering the fee structure would require new approval from federal transportation officials and would delay the plan’s implementation.
“I haven’t heard anything like that. The current proposal has federal approval. Who knows if a different fare structure would be approved,” said Katherine Wilde, CEO of the Partnership for New York City, a member of the MTA’s Transportation Mobility Review Committee.
Lisa Daglian, executive director of the MTA’s Permanent Resident Advisory Committee, said Hokul should approve the plan he has shelved.
“There’s no easy answer. The only easy answer is to lift the moratorium,” Daglian said.
Two lawsuits were filed last month in state Supreme Court in Manhattan arguing that Hochul lacked the authority to block state congestion pricing legislation approved by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2019.
