State lawmakers who approved congestion pricing weren’t taking any chances that furious motorists would take their revenge at the polls — the legislation doesn’t allow the congestion fee to be set until after the 2020 election.
The startling restriction was buried on page 252 of a 266-page budget bill that sped through the Legislature in a series of late night and predawn votes.
“The Board shall make a recommendation regarding the [congestion pricing] toll amounts . . . no sooner than November fifteenth two thousand twenty,” the language reads. That means a six-person Traffic Mobility Review Board assigned to come up with the fee won’t be releasing the figure until at least 12 days after the Nov. 3, 2020, election.
Congestion pricing is a fraught issue in swing Long Island and Hudson Valley districts, where control of the state Legislature will likely be decided.
“November 15, 2020 didn’t just pop into someone’s mind by accident,” said former Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, who once chaired the MTA oversight committee.
The bill also sets a Dec. 31, 2020, deadline for the panel to complete its work and allows the MTA to begin collecting the fee 30 days after its report is released.
The MTA has promised public hearings in each borough and a vote of its board before the fee takes effect.
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson slammed the timetable as another backroom Albany deal.
“A few weeks does not give us the time we need to figure out the pricing details and have a serious, robust period of public engagement,” said Johnson, who has called for the city to control the subways and buses. “That’s unfair and the opposite of transparent. I’m worried that we’ll see more of the same games we see over and over from Albany when it comes to the MTA.”
Gov. Cuomo and lawmakers agreed last week to make congestion pricing the centerpiece of a $25 billion plan to help the cash-strapped MTA pay for major upgrades and construction projects.
The toll on drivers coming into Manhattan south of 61st Street is expected to provide the bulk of the money — $15 billion.
But officials had to offer concessions to win key votes from wavering suburban and outer-borough Democrats. They promised:
- To find a way to apply many existing East or Hudson river tolls to the new congestion fee.
- A hardship tax rebate for working-class New Yorkers.
- And $3 billion in new funding for Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road improvements.
Officials have ducked discussion of the precise congestion amount, which was set at $11.52 in a previous plan. Other important details, like how hardship exemptions will work and what bridges and tunnels tolls will be rebated, were left to the new panel to resolve.
Mayor de Blasio insisted details are up for discussion. “We’re going to have a whole process to evaluate them,” he said.
“This is not set in stone yet. It’s going to be discussed. What scared me to death was this vote wouldn’t get off,” the mayor added. “I was worried we’d never see a plan to fix the MTA.”
Cuomo’s office quietly floated the restriction in February and defended its inclusion Tuesday.
“The statute was always designed to allow for 20 months to review toll rates, traffic studies, technology and infrastructure requirements,” said spokesman Patrick Muncie. It’s “a period of time we felt was appropriate.”
With Bernadette Hogan