Cantor: Congestion pricing, unintended consequences and trust

Trust is essential political capital. It is a compact made with voters and legislators when asking for their support. Lose it, and it may never be recoverable when seeking political backing for important initiatives. With that said, you have to wonder why Gov. Hochul would risk her political credibility by kicking to the curb a congestion pricing policy signed into law in 2019, a policy that has been five years in the making, and a policy she has displayed full throated support for less than a year ago.

Trust with voters is critical for a public official if they are to successfully govern; the latest Siena Poll indicates that Gov. Hochul’s latest favorability rating among New Yorkers continues to fall and is now 40%. If that is not bad enough, 49% of New Yorkers view her as “unfavorable.” Add these disappointing poll results to the 64% of New York City voters who responded they are against the congestion pricing tolls, while only 33% backed it.

Another poll in Nov. 2023 reflected that 72% of Long Island voters said they opposed congestion pricing. These could well be factors leading to Gov. Hochul invoking that congestion pricing “risks to many unintended consequences” for New Yorkers when she called for an “indefinite pause” in the June 30, 2024, commencement date for the congestion pricing program.

This was a stunning decision, considering the perennially cash strapped Metropolitan Transportation Authority has already spent $507 million for the planning, design and installation of the new congestion tolling equipment that hangs at the entrances to the central business district below 60th Street in Manhattan. It’s not as if the MTA had $500 million sitting in petty cash.

After years of convincing New Yorkers that the $1 billion of new revenues raised from collecting $15 per car congestion pricing toll would lead to fewer cars and cleaner air in Manhattan, as well as improving buses, subways, and the Long Island and Metro-North commuter railroads, the governor’s announcement also caught the state legislature unaware just one day before adjourning the 2024 session.

Even more surprising was the governor asking the state legislature to fund the lost $1 billion from either the $20 billion in reserves in the state coffers, or by increasing the local mobility payroll taxes imposed on New York City employers. Both were rejected by legislative leaders.

Could it be that the governor finally realizes that serious economic problems exist in New York? Was it too difficult to ignore the obvious losses of population and congressional seats as businesses and New Yorkers flee for less expensive regions of the country? Or was it the lack of tax relief in a state budget that has grown from a pre-pandemic level of $190 billion to the current $237 billion? Did New Yorkers increasing household financial strain finally cause the governor to step back from the $15 congestion toll?

Those “unintended consequences” must have been pretty convincing for the governor to risk her trust with New Yorkers and pause congestion pricing becauseas she notedit could harm New Yorkers struggling to pay their bills as well as hampering New York’s post-COVID economic recovery.

Trust is a funny thing. Lose it, and it could be gone forever.

 

Martin Cantor is director of the Long Island Center for Socio-Economic Policy and former Suffolk County economic development commissioner. He can be reached at EcoDev1@aol.com.

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