New York is keeping secret its plan for new taxes and fees to fund $33 billion for the flailing Metropolitan Transportation Authority even as Gov. Kathy Hochul is set to propose her budget this week.
Hochul continues to refuse to publicly outline ideas to fill the massive hole in the MTA’s $68 billion five-year capital plan as sources said she’s highly unlikely to include a proposal in her executive budget proposal set to be released Tuesday.
Instead, the governor is continuing to point the figer at state legislative leaders who refused to sign onto the massively underfunded plan.
“That’s their prerogative,” Hochul told CBS News’ Marcia Kramer Sunday morning.
“And now they’ll go back and put together the plan that they want me to look at. Obviously, we need to get something done,” the governor added.
The leaders – Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Westchester) – have refused to fire back at Hochul, as top Democrats have been more keen to negotiating out of eyes of taxpayers.
“It’s a budget. We’ll figure it out,” Heastie told reporters last week when asked if he thinks the ball is in their court to propose a plan.
Heastie and Stewart-Cousins have admitted taxes and fees are going to be part of the discussion to fill the revenue hole, something Hochul’s budget director said as early as November.
“I assume raising revenue will absolutely be on the table,” Heastie told Spectrum News last week.
With all sides refusing to blink publicly to float a proposal to raise revenue, those negotiations are almost certain to be worked out behind closed doors and outside the regular budget process.
“It’s cynical and it’s kind of a projection of fearfulness rather than strength,” said John Kaehny, executive director of good government group Reinvent Albany.
“It’s just dumb cynical gamesmanship I think ultimately will bite the governor since the public just doesn’t like that,” Kaehny continued.
The uncertainty comes as Hochul touts a slew proposals including many meant to address New York’s lack of “affordability” and address violence in the subways.
One of those proposals includes sending out $3 billion worth of checks to low and middle income New Yorkers on top of income tax cuts, increased benefits for families with young kids and grants to prop up childcare centers.
Another proposal would spend $77 million to pad overtime to put 300 NYPD cops on subway trains overnight and another 750 on platforms.
On top of that, state spending on school aid and Medicaid is expected to balloon between $1 billion and $2 billion.
The Citizen Budget Commission’s Patrick Orecki estimates such proposals could ramp up spending by another $5-$6 billion without cuts elsewhere.
“On one hand Hochul wants to be the owner of the subway that floods them with police and spends billions of dollars in police overtime, but on the other she doesn’t want to be the governor that has to find new revenue for the capital plan,” Kaehny said. “I mean it’s just massively inconsistent and irritating and alienate public supporters of the MTA and transit.”
Individual legislators have been more apt to call for the governor to be more forthcoming.
“Ideally,” Deputy Senate Majority Leader Michael Gianaris (D-Queens) said when asked if the governor should roll out a proposal publicly.
“But the more important thing is that we get it done,” Gianaris added.
