New York State plans new taxes and fees to fund struggling Metropolitan Transportation Authority with $33 billion, even as Gov. Kathy Hochul plans to submit a budget this week is kept secret.
Mr. Hochul continues to refuse to publicly outline ideas to fill the huge holes in the MTA's $68 billion, five-year capital plan, and officials say he will not include it in the executive budget proposal scheduled to be released Tuesday. It is highly unlikely that the proposal will be included.
Instead, the governor continues to point his gun at state legislative leaders who have refused to sign the massively unfunded plan.
“That's their prerogative,” Hochul told CBS News' Marcia Kramer Sunday morning.
“And now they're going to come back and put together a plan that they want me to look at. Obviously, something needs to get done,” the governor added.
With top Democrats keen to negotiate away from taxpayers, the leaders, House Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Westchester), have turned to Mr. Hochul. refuses to counterattack.
“It's the budget. We'll figure it out,” Heastie told reporters last week when asked if he thought the ball was in their court to propose a plan.
Mr Heastie and Stewart-Cousins acknowledged that taxes and fees would be part of the discussion to plug the revenue hole, something Hochul's budget director had already said in November.
“I think generating revenue will definitely be a consideration,” Heastie told Spectrum News last week.
These negotiations will almost certainly take place behind closed doors, outside of the normal budget-making process, as neither side has refused to publicly propose revenue increases.
“This is cynical and a projection of fear rather than strength,” said John Kaney, executive director of the good government group Reinvent Albany.
“It's just a stupid, cynical game, but the people don't like it, and it's going to hurt the governor in the end,” Kaney continued.
The uncertainty comes as Hochul touts a number of proposals, including many aimed at addressing New York's lack of “affordability” and subway violence. There is.
One of those proposals would provide checks worth $3 billion to low- and moderate-income New Yorkers, in addition to income tax cuts, increased benefits for families with young children, and subsidies to support child care centers. It includes sending.
Another proposal would spend $77 million to inflate overtime to put 300 NYPD officers on subway trains at night and 750 more on the platforms.
In addition, state spending on school aid and Medicaid is expected to jump from $1 billion to $2 billion.
Patrick Oreki of the Citizens' Budget Committee estimates that the proposals could increase spending by an additional $5 billion to $6 billion if no other cuts are made.
“On the one hand, Mr. Hochul wants to own a subway system that is overrun with police and costs billions of dollars in police overtime, but on the other hand, he has to find new revenue for his capital project. “I don't want to be a governor who doesn't want to be a governor,” Caney said. “I mean, it's very contradictory and frustrating, and it alienates the MTA and transit public supporters.”
Individual legislators are more likely to call on the governor to act more proactively.
Asked if the governor should make the proposal public, Senate Majority Leader Michael Gianaris (D-Queens) said, “Ideally.”
“But more importantly, we get it done,” Gianaris added.
