Champions of congestion pricing wonder why any politician would turn down $354 million. The feds have offered just that to implement Mayor Bloomberg’s traffic fee.
But the city and the state already spend that kind of dough on projects that don’t seem as vital as mass transit.
They’ve committed $403 million to the Yankee Stadium project, for example, and just one city program granted $409 million in property tax breaks last year to Midtown office towers like the MetLife Building and such fast-food outlets as McDonald’s.
City workers have staged protests against a $410 million payroll system that uses biometric devices, including palm scanners. “They say it will reduce ‘buddy punching,’” said a union spokesman, “but we’ve not had one case of that in ten years.”
“While $354 million sounds like a huge amount of money, it will be almost gone before you start congestion pricing,” said Brooklyn Councilman Lewis Fidler.
The MTA puts its necessary upgrades at $767 million. The tolling system would take $73 million, and the operating cost is $62 annually.
But tolls are supposed to net $491 million a year, and that money would go to the MTA, which by 2010 could be handing over 20 percent of its operating budget just to service its debt. Even with congestion pricing, the MTA needs $9 billion more to pay for its new five-year capital plan.
It goes quickly
A handful of things that cost a bit more than the $354 million in federal funds the city will get for congestion pricing:
• The city and state’s contribution to the Yankee Stadium project
• A city payroll system that uses biometric devices to track workers
• Tax breaks to landlords and developers under just one program
• The scrapped 7 line station at 10th Avenue and 41st Street
