Gov. Kathy Hochul ditched the MTA congestion pricing plan indefinitely Wednesday — saying it’s not the right time as New Yorkers face a cost-of-living crisis.
Hochul announced plans to delay the $15 toll’s June 30 start date, citing the “undue strain on already stressed New Yorkers” grappling with inflation.
“Let’s be real: a $15 charge may not mean a lot to someone who has the means, but it can break the budget of a working- or middle-class household,” she said in a pre-taped video announcement. “It puts the squeeze on the very people who make this city go.
“I cannot add another burden to working middle class New Yorkers or create another obstacle to our continued economic recovery” from the COVID pandemic, she added.
The Democrat, who is likely to run for reelection in two years, had faced mounting public pressure over the dreaded toll, which would have charged drivers entering Manhattan below 60th Street.
“I think the Post spotlighting the real concerns of working New Yorkers definitely impacted the conversation. It’s tone-deaf to charge New Yorkers $3,600 every year when they can’t afford to put food on the table,” a source familiar with the governor’s thinking said.
“She just doesn’t think we can ask New Yorkers to pay a new fee at a time when the cost of living has gone up so dramatically.”
Another source close to Hochul’s office added: “The governor is concerned about the economic recovery in Manhattan and the cost of living. New Yorkers are struggling. It’s not the right time to do it.”
A delay in the congestion pricing plan start date does not require legislative approval. But the state Senate and Assembly would have to approve legislation to make up for the subsequent revenue loss to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which had been slated to receive roughly $1 billion in revenue a year from the congestion plan.
Hochul’s office didn’t say how it intends to replace the funds, but sources told The Post it potentially could entail increasing taxes on Big Apple businesses by adjusting the state’s payroll mobility tax.
Such a change would require action by state lawmakers, who would have to move extremely quickly to pass legislation before they hightail it out of Albany for the year at the end of this week.
Another option could be to tap into the state’s reserves, sources said.
But one prominent Democrat, state Sen. Liz Krueger, cast doubt on how Hochul would replace the lost revenue.
“The Governor has stated that she has a billion dollars available to replace congestion pricing as a funding source for this year, but as the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, I am not aware of what she is referring to or where she believes that money will come from,” she said.
“The Legislature certainly will not be rushing to raise taxes on hard-working New York City residents and small businesses.”
The surprise announcement also left it unclear how the indefinite delay would impact the MTA’s $507 million infrastructure deal with TransCore, which had already installed license plate cameras to enforce the new toll.
The delay was met with cheers from some of the toll’s biggest critics on both sides of the aisle.
“It is welcome news that Governor Hochul is considering delaying congestion pricing, scheduled to begin June 30, due to our pressure, the public‘s outcry and concerns it will impact Democrats in November’s election,” said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY).
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) also celebrated the impending announcement.
“After a five-year fight, New York appears to have done right by hardworking Jersey families and backed off their outrageous Congestion Tax,” he told The Post.
City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli also credited The Post’s extensive coverage of the much-maligned toll.
“But not for relentless and objective coverage from The Post and a few other outlets, this would have gone through, no questions asked,” Borelli (R-Staten Island) said.
But he noted that “nothing has changed since 2019 but politics.”
“It’s only the politics, though perhaps enhanced by the arrogance of the MTA’s leadership and the finger-in-the-wind flip-flopping of congestion pricing’s original gangster, Andrew Cuomo,” he said.
The congestion pricing plan was passed into law five years ago by Cuomo, pitched as a way to raise money for MTA capital projects while reducing city traffic and improving air quality.
But critics slammed it as a “cash grab” that would drain even locals who don’t own cars — and the plan sparked a flurry of lawsuits attempting to pause it from going into effect.
MTA lawyers filed letters to federal judges in Manhattan and Newark later Wednesday saying the agency “no longer anticipate” the plan would go forward as planned June 30, thrusting those legal cases into limbo.
The plan’s unpopularity was not lost on Hochul, with a source close to the governor noting a recent Siena College poll that indicated most Democrats – even Manhattan liberals – opposed the plan.
Mayor Eric Adams said at a Wednesday morning press conference that he supported Hochul’s decision to delay the toll, adding that congestion pricing “should not be an undue burden on everyday New Yorkers.”
MTA board member David Mack said he was “pleased” with Hochul’s decision, adding, “I have always maintained that this is absolutely the wrong time to impose an additional tax on a region still recovering from the aftermath of the pandemic.
“As to whether this decision was politically motivated, I simply say that if, at the end of the day, the correct decision is made and it is based on the political will of the people, then the political system has actually worked,” he shrugged.
Transport Workers Union international president John Samuelsen, who also serves on the MTA board, suggested that the governor’s decision is a case of “I told you so.”
“I told the governor two years ago that if she imposed the congestion toll without increases in transit service, it would be a political disaster,” Samuelson scoffed.
Hochul’s waffling, however, came as a surprise to key Democratic lawmakers in both the state Assembly and Senate who said they hadn’t been briefed on any plan.
The idea to push back the toll was supposedly planted by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who is aiming to win back the Democratic majority this year, a source told Politico, which reported Hochul was considering pushing back the plan Tuesday night.
State Democratic Party chairman Jay Jacobs insisted the governor’s decision to pull the plug on the congestion toll had nothing to do with House races, and everything to do with “affordability.”
“The governor has been thinking about this for some time, at least months,” he said. “People tying her decision to concerns about House races is ridiculous.”
Hochul touted the congestion pricing plan as recently as May 20. In December, she even patted herself and other supporters on the back for political courage.
“From time to time, leaders are called upon to envision a better future, be bold in the implementation and execution and undaunted by the opposition,” she said.
Hochul’s flip-flop was met with hostility from mass transit advocates — some of whom said the governor needed to “stiffen [her] resolve.”
“New York City public transit riders gave Governor Hochul her margin of victory in the 2022 election. Stopping congestion pricing before it even starts would be an outrageous betrayal of our trust,” said Rider Alliance executive director Betsy Plum.
“Congestion pricing is the only public policy that can make our subway more reliable and accessible, speed up slow bus service, and help clear the air as wildfire smoke thickens. Governor Hochul must turn it on June 30 as planned.”
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