Gov. Kathy Hochul is looking to revive a planned congestion toll in Manhattan before President-elect Donald Trump takes office – but critics want to make sure the controversial plan stays dead.
Hochul had planned to wait to revisit the $15 congestion toll to enter Midtown below 60th Street until after elections, which political insiders said was a move to prevent backlash against fellow Democrats running in hotly contested congressional seats in the Empire State.
Hochul in June “paused” the plan — which would’ve been the first of its kind in the nation — but less than a week from the Nov. 5 election she is now mulling a $9 toll, legislative sources said.
She plans to announce the modified plan “very soon” and is looking to have it implemented before Trump is sworn in for his second term on Jan. 20, the sources told The Post.
A bipartisan group of opponents is now saying, “I told you so.”
“Governor Hochul’s sudden move to implement congestion pricing in New York City is a blatant bait-and-switch on hardworking New Yorkers,” state Republican Party chairman Ed Cox said.
“Just months ago, she hit the brakes on this misguided plan — clearly hoping to avoid political backlash during an election year.
“But now, with the election behind her, she’s racing to burden New Yorkers with yet another tax.”
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman called congestion pricing, “a bad idea then. It’s a bad idea now.”
“It’s a new tax. It’s a real burden,” said Blakeman, a Republican and close ally of Trump. “It’s a mistake governmentally and politically. I don’t know anyone but people on the far left who support congestion pricing.”
A bipartisan group of lawmakers are planning to hold a news conference Tuesday on Staten Island near the tolled Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to fight the recycled plan, which is aimed at raising funds for the MTA’s capital program while curbing congestion and pollution during rush hours.
Republican Reps. Nicole Malliotakis and Michael Lawler are planning to attend, along with Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella and other Democratic and GOP state lawmakers.
“No, nay never,” Malliotakis said of the revived congestion pricing plan.
“New Yorkers pay taxes to have a well run transit system not to house illegal immigrants wreaking havoc in our city. Drop the congestion tax. Close the migrant shelters. And put that $5B/year toward fixing our transportation system.”
Congressman Mike Lawler, who is weighing a run for governor, said, “Governor Hochul has never met a tax she didn’t like. Millions have headed for the exits on her watch, and if she gets her way with her $5,000-a-year congestion pricing cash grab, that’ll only continue.
“It punishes hard-working, middle-class New Yorkers like cops, teachers, and firefighters simply for commuting to work. I will keep fighting alongside Democrats and Republicans to kill Kathy’s congestion pricing scheme once and for all,” he said.
Even suburban Democrats said it’s going to look bad for Hochul politically if she flips and revives the congestion toll.
“She’s validating the rightful skepticism that a lot of voters had about her pause back in June,” state Sen. Jim Skoufis (D-Orange), an opponent to congestion pricing, told The Post,Monday.
Democrat Laura Gillen, newly elected to the House of Representatives in Long Island’s 4th Congressional District, said, “We need a permanent end to congestion pricing efforts, full stop. Long Island commuters cannot afford another tax.”
Kathryn Wylde, who served on the MTA’s Traffic Mobility Review Board that recommended a $15 toll, said a scaled-back plan has been in the works for months.
“Her office has been exploring alternate plans since June and she has always indicated she would reinstate the pricing district but possibly phasing in the size of the toll,” Wylde said.
“Her office has been working to come up with a plan that will be consistent with the federal approvals that are in place and not require Trump to sign of.”
A legislator who spoke with the governor’s office confirmed Hochul making serious plans to reduce the toll to $9 from $15, the lowest she can set the price under the current approvals granted by the feds.
The lawmaker also added that the governor is considering other means to make up the difference in the $15-16 billion in revenue shortfall for the MTA’s most recent capital plan caused by the plan getting yanked over summer.
Those possible alternatives include hiking the payroll mobility tax and internet sales tax, according to the source.
Several lawmakers who spoke with The Post say they expect those details to be hammered out when they return to Albany next year as part of state budget talks.
The MTA already has toll readers in place for the congestion plan and wouldn’t need further environmental study by the US Department of Transportation, sources claim.
“[Trump] can’t block it [from happening]. Not clear if he can stop it later” after taking office, one Albany insider said.
“Any form of congestion pricing is better than no form,” Assemblyman Bobby Carrol (D-Brooklyn) said.
“We’re not going to have a time to implement this in the next four years if we don’t implement it in the next 60 days,” Carrol said of the pressure to implement congestion pricing before Trump takes office.
Trump has made it clear he’s against congestion pricing.
“TERMINATE Congestion Pricing in my FIRST WEEK back in Office!!,” Trump said back in May.
Trump’s team declined comment.
Hochul’s office said the governor and Trump did not talk about congestion pricing during a phone call last week following the election.
“The governor and president-elect discussed Penn Station, the future of the MTA, and how investment and repairs are necessary to make the transit system something New Yorkers can be proud of. They did not specifically discuss the congestion pricing program,” a Hochul spokesman said.
A state law approved in 2019 authorized the MTA to impose congestion pricing before Hochul’s turnaround.
