The Trump administration could be trying to hash out a deal over congestion pricing by giving the MTA a 30-day extension to stop the tolls, sources said — as Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday took a victory lap celebrating the controversial scheme.
Dozens of congestion pricing supporters, including Hochul, defiantly gathered near Union Square on the day President Trump’s administration had set — before pushing it off — as a deadline to kill the lower Manhattan toll program.
Hochul awkwardly joined in the crowd’s chant of “traffic is down, business is up” before singing the praises of $9 tolls for not only reducing gridlock and cleaning up the air, but also ultimately raising $15 billion for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s massive capital plan to revamp the city’s transit system.
“We’re still on that journey, and the more people who get a chance to see the benefits — just walk around and talk to people ask if their lives are more enriched, whether they have more time with their families, if they’re a commuter,” she said. “Whether or not they’re finally realizing that we have the world-class public transit system, but we need to keep it world-class by raising the revenues to invest in it as well.
“So, today’s an important day, the cameras are staying on.”
Behind the scenes, there could be a wider deal in the works for New York, a source with knowledge said Thursday — possibly involving congestion pricing, a revamp of Penn Station and Trump’s demands to revive two stalled energy pipeline projects in the Empire State.
The governor still believes Trump can be persuaded to stand down on his promise to kill the first-in-the-nation tolling program, a source familiar said.
Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, suggested the 30-day delay announced by US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy at the 11th-hour could be a sign the feds aren’t certain they’ll be able to kill congestion pricing in the courts.
“It looks like federal officials don’t believe they’re on solid legal ground to stop the congestion toll,” Gelinas told The Post.
Immediately after Duffy announced he was pulling federal approval for the first-in-the-nation tolling program last month, the MTA filed suit in Manhattan federal court to stop it.
The feds have yet to file any response to the MTA‘s lawsuit, nor have government attorneys filed a notice of appearance in the case, which could indicate a hesitancy to duke it out in court.
Hochul and the MTA — at least up to now — are standing up to Trump’s “bluff” to stop the tolls, Gelinas said.
“It would seem that Hochul is winning right now,” she said.
Hochul definitely appeared to bask in her apparent win Friday with her pro-congestion pricing rally, which was preceded by her taking a non-rush hour bus ride a few blocks across town, apparently to tout the lack of traffic.
Left unsaid during Hochul’s rally — where supporters held up signs with images of subway cars and the phrase “This machine kills facists” — was the fact that congestion pricing won’t be the last hit on New York City taxpayers, if the governor has her way.
The governor has long been considering hiking the payroll mobility tax to help pay for the MTA’s record $68.4 billion, five-year capital plan.
A source familiar with ongoing state budget negotiations told The Post that the payroll tax has come up in the talks.
It is part of a range of options lawmakers are considering to ding city businesses to help pay for the MTA’s 2025-29 capital plan, the source said.
Big Apple businesses with payrolls larger than $437,500 currently must pay 0.6% of that for the tax. Certain businesses in all 12 counties served by the MTA are hit by the tax.
But the hike being considered by Hochul would only apply to employers with big payrolls in New York City, Gothamist first reported.
The proposal, sources suggested to The Post, would subject businesses with payrolls in the range of $10-$15 million with the tax on the belief that the revenue would be enough to cover roughly $2 billion for the MTA.
Business groups have flatly rejected any tax increase on businesses to help fund the MTA’s capital plan.
“More taxes on private-sector businesses cannot be the solution to addressing the MTA’s ongoing budget issues,” Heather Mulligan, president and CEO of The Business Council of New York State wrote in a statement Friday.
“The businesses that have chosen to stay have to balance their own budgets while facing routine rate, fee, and tax hikes from a state government that regularly increases spending year after year. New York’s high tax, spend big approach has gone on for too long leading to unaffordability for residents, consumers, and businesses,” Mulligan said. “This is why people are leaving, and no one in Albany seems to want to address the issue.”
The talks over increasing taxes to raise money for the MTA comes amid growing uncertainty about whether the feds under the Trump administration will help fund the transit agency.
MTA bigs this week threatened another “Summer of Hell” for public transit if City Council members don’t pony up an expected $4 billion for the capital plan.
Duffy twice this week threatened to pull federal funding for the MTA — first over transit safety, then for failing to comply with the congestion pricing deadline that he extended on Thursday.
“Governor Hochul is out of touch with NYC commuters and workers,” a US DOT spokesperson said in a statement Friday. “Her relentless attempt to place an unfair tax on hardworking people just trying to get to work or run a business is a disgrace. Her cameras may be on, but she remains blind to the financial struggles of the working class.”
Hochul, as she finished her celebratory bus ride Friday, signaled that the fight over congestion pricing isn’t over.
“No, I’m not spiking the football,” she said. “This is an important milestone to talk about how excited we are.”
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