Four years ago, as Andrew Cuomo prepared to begin his first term as governor, the biggest problem facing New York state was how to close a $10 billion budget gap. This year, gearing up for his second term, Cuomo faces quite a different challenge: what to do with roughly $5 billion in extra cash. Read More
Tag: Infrastructure
It's not every day that one state entity condemns another for lack of transparency and oversight. Read More
The nearly $4 billion Tappan Zee bridge replacement project will almost certainly double the $5 toll currently charged on the existing bridge by 2019, a government finance expert warned Wednesday. Read More
State lawmakers say they want to act quickly to spend the state’s $5 billion dollar and growing surplus on an infrastructure fund to fix up roads and bridges, among other things. At a conference on the state’s infrastructure, sponsored by a think tank, participants said there are deep needs, and they warn lawmakers not to spend the money frivolously. Read More
While state officials have been purposefully tight-lipped about how replacing the Tappan Zee Bridge may impact its $5 toll—or tolls across the state's Thruway system—one fiscal analyst is confident they will reach double digits. Read More
EJ McMahon, with the Empire Center, likens the windfall to choices a household might have to make, when it suddenly gets a small unexpected inheritance of $3000. So, he says, everybody gets excited, with one family member wanting a kitchen rehab with granite counter tops, another wanting premium cable with more sports channels. Read More
McMahon and Brodsky warn against using the funds to pay for liberal or conservative agendas -- or new programs or new tax cuts. Their argument is sound: "Never use one-shot revenues to fund operating expenses." Read More
A far saner plan was laid out in a July 17 Daily News op-ed coauthored by liberal former Assemblyman Richard Brodsky and fiscally conservative watchdog E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center for Public Policy. The ideological odd couple proposed sinking the entire sum into transportation infrastructure, with half earmarked for chronically underfunded New York City-area mass transit and half for upstate roads and bridges. Read More