The new year rings in the arrival of a costly state mandate that will prompt some private developers to reconsider breaking ground on any planned construction projects in New York.
Construction costs began climbing when the pandemic arrived in early 2020. They’ve stayed high due to inflated material costs, supply-chain constraints and a worker shortage. That labor scarcity will get worse in the coming months as laborers, foremen, carpenters, electricians and other tradesmen are drawn in to support new public-construction projects across New York City and the state that secure a share of the tens of billions of dollars coming to the region courtesy of November’s $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure law.
To this mix, add an expensive new legislative mandate on private construction former Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law in April 2020. Effective Jan. 1, it extends to many private projects New York’s misnamed “prevailing wage” regime — a costly drain on the public purse historically applicable only to contractors working on public projects.
Read the full op-ed in the New York Post.
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