Politics on the Hudson

   In remarks after a news conference on drug-law reform, Gov. David Paterson spoke of the general frustration in not reaching an agreement on a bailout for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and he seemed frustrated with criticism of the state budget and reporting on the spending plan.

   “There is extreme disagreement as to which is the right way,” he said of the multiple proposals on how to help the MTA out of a $1.2 billion budget deficit. “And I think the best way to reach an agreement is not to in any way impugn any of the particular suggestions but to recognize that whichever way it’s closed, it’s going to involve expenses of resources which right now are right at the brink because of the resources we had to use to close an $18 billion to $20 billion (state) budget deficit.”

   Senate Democrats released details of their plan this week, which includes a $1 surcharge on taxi rides in New York City and the other seven counties MTA covers; a tax on employers of up to 34 cents for every $100 of payroll;  a $25 fee on motor-vehicle registration; and a 25 percent increase in the fee for a driver’s license. It does not include tolls on the bridges that cross the Harlem and East rivers, which previously had been proposed. Half of the money raised from taxi fares—$95 million—would go toward leveraging more than $1 billion in bonds for upstate roads and bridges.

   Assemblyman Peter Rivera, D-Bronx, has proposed a temporary jet-fuel tax of up to $2 per gallon, which would raise $1.7 billion annually for the MTA and the 16 upstate communities with airports. The state tax on jet fuel is 6 cents a gallon.  A $1 increase per gallon would boost the cost of an airline ticket by less than $10, according to Rivera, who held a news conference with the New York Taxi Worker Alliance in New York City today. His plan would would not require new tolls or taxi fees. 

   “Upstate roads and bridges will not be built by taking food off the table of families of hardworking taxi drivers or by tolling bridges that will make minority neighborhoods into toxic fume-yielding parking lots,” Rivera said in a statement. 

   Paterson talked about the state budget, which requires the layoff of nearly 9,000 state employees. Worker unions would not make concessions on a planned salary increase or a one-week payroll lag. The projected budget deficit for next year is $2.7 billion, compared with the $18 billion to $20 billion this year, he said.

   “Even if the economy continues to disintegrate, we can handle $2.7 billion or maybe $5.7 billion if it increases at the amount that it did this year. But this particular year, there was a culture change in Albany. And I wish there’d be a culture change somewhere where someone would write about it,” he said.

   “Because the legislative spending was flat, and if it stays that way for the next couple of years, New York will be one of the first states to move beyond what has been a recession and almost nearing a depression back into prosperity,” he added.

   Paterson didn’t respond to a question about news this week that Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, D-Queens, and other Democratic senators will be traveling to Puerto Rico, Israel, India and China this year. Paterson said he was “not going to anyplace other than my office right now…”

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