New York Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie will not back the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) 2025-2029 Capital Plan that would invest some $65.4 billion in rebuilding, improving, and expanding its system of subways, buses, commuter railroads, bridges, and tunnels, according to a Dec. 25 Spectrum News NY 1 report.
A Dec. 24 letter from the two legislative leaders sent to MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber cited “‘a significant funding deficit’ as the reason for their rejection,” according to the media outlet, noting that it was sent “two days before the plan would have lapsed into approval.”
“‘The proposed Program currently faces a significant funding deficit, generally recognized to be at least $33 billion of the $65 billion proposed total subject to CPRB [Capital Program Review Board] approval, which is a specific concern that needs to be addressed before we can approve the Program,’ the letter read,” Spectrum News NY 1 said. Stewart-Cousins and Heastie are on the CPRB.
“The proposed Capital Plan [download below] assumes a fully funded 2020-2024 Capital Plan and looks ahead to the next slate of vital improvement projects, informed by the most detailed system-wide evaluation the MTA has ever undertaken, the Twenty-Year Needs Assessment,” reported the transit agency in September, which noted that it “will work with partners in local, State, and Federal government to ensure that the proposed capital plan is fully funded.” MTA was to submit the plan to the CPRB by Oct. 1; the CPRB would then have 90 days to file a written objection, according to The New York Daily News.
According to Spectrum News NY 1, the plan “was formally rejected by the Capital Program Review Board,” whose four members “are supposed to approve or reject the plan before it heads to the Legislature. The board rarely meets, and these plans normally lapse into approval.”
Spectrum News NY1 was told by the MTA “that they had heard no concerns or objections from the Legislature since it [the plan] was approved by the MTA board. In a statement, the MTA wrote the capital plan ‘will unlock dozens of transformative projects – many of which are funded and ready to go on January 1st. We remain optimistic that the legislature will join the governor in supporting safer, more reliable, and expanded transit.’”
According to the media outlet, Queens state Sen. John Liu said, “They came up with a plan that is a good plan, no question, but more than half of the plan lacked a funding source.”
In a statement to Spectrum News NY1, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office said that “it looks forward to seeing the Legislature’s recommendations on what projects should be deprioritized but that ‘the MTA has laid out a comprehensive plan to improve subway service, support suburban commuter rail, improve safety, crack down on fare evasion and fund new projects like the Interborough Express.”
“The governor, when she unpaused congestion pricing, also stated her support for the capital plan,” the news outlet noted.
“‘To say that it’s now upon the legislature to figure out which projects to deprioritize when the executive budget hasn’t even come out to discuss how the governor plans to fund the MTA budget, that’s beyond the pale,’ Liu said,” according to Spectrum News NY1. “Liu and others agree that all the projects in the capital program are needed. MTA leadership said if they had to cut, the first thing that would go is expansion projects.”
According to a Dec. 25 Gothamist report, “MTA leaders have 10 days to respond to the rejection. If the legislative leaders don’t withdraw their rejection within 10 days after the MTA’s response, transit officials must submit an entirely new plan, according to state law.”
