At a campaign stop in Albany last October, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced an ambitious new plan to revolutionize New Yorkers’ access to broadband internet with $500 million in state funding. Read More
Tag: Infrastructure
Governor Andrew Cuomo’s plan for allocating $5.4 billion in windfall funds has survived, almost intact, in the agreed-upon New York State budget for the 2016 fiscal year, which starts April 1. Consistent with Cuomo’s original vision, the final plan shortchanges basic transportation and municipal infrastructure. Read More
The Legislature is on the verge of following Governor Cuomo's lead by making three big moves in the wrong direction. Read More
As part of his plan for allocating $5.4 billion in one-shot windfall funds, Governor Cuomo wants to spend $500 million to expand the availability and capacity of broadband Internet access across New York. But given pressing traditional infrastructure needs, should broadband rate a high priority? Do we really need it? The governor's case, on closer inspection, is less than compelling. Read More
Governor Cuomo repeatedly has said that the state’s unprecedented $5.4 billion cash windfall is a “one shot” that should not be spent on recurring expenses such as school aid or agency operations. Yet his proposed budget language might allow him to do just that. Read More
The agenda in almost every capital this legislative year will include a discussion about how – not if – to increase spending on roads and bridges. Read More
One of the biggest questions heading into New York’s fiscal 2016 Executive Budget presentation was how Governor Andrew Cuomo would choose to allocate an unprecedented, one-shot $5.4 billion windfall "surplus" originating with fines and penalties collected from financial institutions. Now we have the answer: under Cuomo's proposal, less than one-third of the money—barely $1.6 billion—would be absolutely, positively committed to core transportation infrastructure purposes. The rest would go to an assortment of stuff, only some of which would fit into even an extra-broad definition of “infrastructure.” Read More
Toll increases aren't included in the stateThruway Authority's $2 billion budget for 2015 — but that doesn't mean they won't eventually happen. The big factor may be the new Tappan Zee Bridge. Read More