They said on Monday that they will believe New York Gov. Kathy Hochul when she thinks she will recover the $15 billion she cut from the MTA's building budget when she stopped congestion pricing last minute.

Kathy Hochul On MTA.Photo byMetropolitan Transportation Authority From Flickr

This was said just one month after MTA officials said they would have to cancel $16.5 billion worth of projects that were going to be paid for by the Manhattan tolling scheme.

These projects included expanding the Second Avenue subway and buying hundreds of new train cars. At the MTA's June board meeting, leaders hinted that they might officially remove those projects from the agency's building plan for 2020–2024.

The agency's president of building and development, Jamie Torres-Springer, said on Monday that his team would proceed with the work as if the money were still available.

Back And Forth Between Hochul And MTA

Hochul and the MTA have been at odds since June 5, when the governor said congestion pricing would be put on hold "indefinitely." When the budget gap opened, Hochul promised to work with state politicians to fix it.

But after leaving Albany a few days later, no deal was reached. The governor also said that what she did on June 30 was "a temporary pause."

Now that harsh cuts have been made to important transit projects, MTA leaders are promising the public that Hochul will get the money, either by bringing back congestion pricing or working out a new funding deal with lawmakers in the state budget for next year.