Hochul fails to reach revenue deal with lawmakers

ALBANY, New York — Gov. Kathy Hochul’s fellow Democrats won’t bail her out after she abruptly yanked support for a contentious New York City toll plan.

A stopgap measure to replace $15 billion in revenue that was expected from congestion pricing won’t be cobbled together before state lawmakers leave Albany for the rest of the year, top Democrats in the Legislature said Friday.

Hochul on Wednesday announced a suspension of the tolling plan, which would have launched June 30 and charged drivers entering Manhattan below 60th Street $15 during peak hours.

That development, along with the lack of a concrete revenue plan to replace the anticipated revenue, has left urgent infrastructure projects set to benefit from the funding in limbo.

The governor’s sudden reversal of support for the tolls also left the state government in turmoil as lawmakers were wrapping up their six-month legislative session. There are no plans to return to Albany before January, and many legislators are turning their attention to their primaries on June 25.

Numerous proposals floated by Hochul at the 11th hour to replace the expected $1 billion in annual revenue from the toll program — including a tax increaseon New York City businesses and reserving $1 billion to back a bonding plan for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority — were rejected by the Democratic-dominated state Legislature.

In her first remarks since announcing her reversal through a video message, Hochul emphasized cost of living concerns Friday night.

“My job is not to make it harder or more expensive to live in New York state,” she said. “New Yorkers tell me they’re just not ready for congestion pricing. Leaders have to do what’s right, regardless of the political headwinds.”

She was similarly firm that her decision was not rooted in electoral politics — as POLITICO has reported — but rather genuine feedback from New Yorkers.

“It’s not related to an election months away,” she said. “This was not me waking up one day and saying, ‘Let’s do this.’ I gather information. But the voices that were most powerful to me are those who feel like they’re being ignored.”

Hochul insisted state officials would keep looking for replacement revenue, and would not say if the “indefinite pause” would be a permanent one.

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a Democrat who represents a suburban district bordering New York City, said lawmakers wanted a plan to address traffic in Manhattan while also paying for upgrades to the region’s crumbling mass transit system.

“Our conference is reticent to commit $1 billion for the next 15 years without having some plan in place for dealing with congestion as well,” she told reporters.

Hochul’s move to call on the MTA’s governing board to rescind its approval for congestion pricing before a June 30 implementation came as Democratic officials have raised concerns over the potential political fallout from the toll plan.

Public polling has shown most New York voters were deeply opposed to the fees. 

But her reversal after publicly touting the benefits of congestion pricing angered environmental organizations, business leaders and transit advocates who had endorsed the controversial plan.

In fact Hochul herself seemed concerned with congestion when she spoke Friday night.

“I’m out there in the community all the time at the neighborhood diner I go to three to four days a week because I live in New York,” she said. “People that own the restaurants and businesses, they tell me what’s on their minds. And I cannot tell you the anxiety level that has continued to go up and up and up.”

Jason Beeferman contributed to this report.