$68 billion MTA capital plan officially now Albany’s problem

The MTA is officially signing off on its proposal to ask Albany to find $68 billion for its next five-year capital plan.

The ask — the biggest in the MTA’s history — is turning the screws on Gov. Kathy Hochul to either once again stick it to transit advocates or find a way to cough up the huge sum of cash. 

“Honestly, I don’t know,” MTA Chair and President Janno Lieber told reporters when asked how much convincing he’ll have to do as the governor and state lawmakers grapple with how to come up with the cash.

MTA Chair Janno Lieber said he’s “optimistic” about the MTA’s capital plan as it now heads to Albany for fierce debate during next year’s budget process. ZUMAPRESS.com

For Lieber’s part, he’s holding the line that his capital plan is “responsible” and its bloat is mainly attributable to inflation.

“It’s very conservative, but protecting riders from a decline in service due to infrastructure that’s been, for whatever reason, neglected or left unfixed and I think Albany folks recognize it,” Lieber said.

The MTA expects the feds to chip in $14 billion of the five years, around 19% of the plan.

Albany and the city would be expected to collectively chip in $8 billion directly toward the plan.

The MTA and Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority would raise $13 billion — around 19% — by issuing its own debt.

“I don’t think there’s room to propose a ton more,” MTA Chief Financial Officer Kevin Williams said during Wednesday’s board meeting.

That leaves nearly half of the plan or $33 billion for state lawmakers and the governor to figure out how to come up with or force the authority into a smaller package.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and lawmakers need to find revenue to fill a $33 billion hole in the MTA’s $68 billion five-year capital plan. James Keivom

On top of that, Hochul vowed to come up with a plan to fill the $16.5 billion hole left in the 2020-2024 capital plan when she suddenly paused congestion pricing in June. Hochul said she’ll release that plan by the end of the year and negotiate it with the state legislature as part of next year’s budget process alongside the next capital plan.

She wrote in a statement last week that she will “fight to secure as much funding as possible.”

The plan now goes to a review panel consisting of appointees from Hochul, state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. New YOrk City Mayor Eric Adams also gets an appointee who can effectively veto parts of the plan.

Lieber said the MTA has briefed the leaders or staff for the leaders of all those respective parties.

“There hasn’t been specific discussion of how they will figure out the funding, but so far, I think there’s been a tip of the hat, to our team for coming up with something which is very much well-founded,” he said.

Five years ago, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo snubbed then-Mayor Bill de Blasio over a spat about whether the principals on the panel had to meet publicly. There was never a public convening, and the MTA ultimately had no problem moving forward with issuing its bonds as part of the plan on Jan. 1, 2020.