Gov. Andrew Cuomo may have been stoned when he proposed splitting the cost of fixing up the MTA with the city, Mayor Bill de Blasio implied Monday.
“If anyone thinks that money can be found in the city budget they may be smoking marijuana,” Hizzoner said when asked about Cuomo’s Sunday proposal to take the reins at the authority while going Dutch with the city on MTA capital costs.
“It’s not realistic,” de Blasio continued. “We cannot pay the cost of the MTA.”
Cuomo’s appointed state budget honcho Robert Mujica argued Sunday that the “legislature should pass congestion pricing and require the City and State to split any funding shortfall and also give the Governor operational responsibility,” and Cuomo himself took up the argument Monday on the radio.
De Blasio has argued that Cuomo “has had effective control for a long time,” because he appoints a plurality of MTA board members and can already veto the authority’s budget — but the mayor said he could get behind the power grab anyhow.
“I want to affirm that it’s very important that the state and the governor take responsibility for the MTA,” he said. “That said, you still have to have some kind of checks and balances. I’m looking forward to seeing his proposal, and I think it’s a step in the right direction.”
Cuomo previously said the city should pick up half the tab for the MTA’s anticipated $37 billion Fast Forward modernization program.
Congestion pricing — the practice of tolling motorists driving through the densest parts of Manhattan — is expected to generate about $1 billion per year.