MTA sets up Albany brawl over how to fund record-breaking $68.4B capital plan request

The MTA is asking for $68.4 billion to fund its next capital improvement plan – the largest request the transit agency has ever made – setting up a bruising fight in Albany to figure out how to deliver that cash.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Janno Lieber left the tough question – how to pay for his big financial ask for 2025-2029 – up to state lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul.

“The MTA proposes, Albany disposes. That’s really when the question about funding is going to be answered,” Lieber told reporters Wednesday.

Albany also has to figure out how to address the $16.5 billion hole in its existing capital plan that was going to be funded by cash from the much-derided congestion pricing scheme — which Hochul put on pause earlier this year. That 2020-2024 capital plan was priced at just over $55 billion.

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“I know that she understands the importance of what we’re trying to do here because the success of our transit system is totally intertwined with the success and affordability of the city and the region,” Lieber said, referring to Hochul.

“Remember, mass transit is one of the very few things that makes New York affordable, and we got to keep it that way,” he added. “This is the right program and it’s the right size at $68 billion.”

Hochul considering a resumption of the $15 toll to enter Manhattan below 60th Street, but at a lower amount, The Post previously reported.

“We will review the MTA’s proposal for the upcoming 5-year capital plan and fight to secure as much funding as possible,” Hochul wrote in a statement.

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“That includes pressuring Washington to deliver additional infrastructure dollars and working with our partners in the Legislature and City Hall to determine priorities and capacity during the upcoming budget negotiations,” the statement added.

The feds ended up contributing about a fifth of the last capital plan’s funding. Their share was bumped up as part of a bipartisan infrastructure law passed in 2021.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has previously said he can’t promise the feds will send in the same cavalry this time around, especially if former President Donald Trump retakes the White House.

The Citizens Budget Commission, a fiscally-focused advocacy group, mostly cheered the MTA’s big ask.

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“The CBC commends the MTA for rightly focusing the vast majority of its capital plan on projects that rebuild and improve the system,” CBC President Andrew Rein wrote in a statement.

“Yet, the MTA will continue to play catch-up given past underinvestment in core infrastructure and the billions of dollars still going to expansion projects that divert resources from essential rebuilding and improvement efforts,” he continued.

Rein also encouraged the governor to re-start the congestion pricing plan, a sentiment also somewhat echoed by advocacy groups Reinvent Albany and the Riders Alliance.

“Governor Hochul betrayed riders last spring when she stalled congestion pricing and, with it, $16.5 billion for reliable trains, accessible stations and other essential upgrades,” Riders Alliance Policy & Communications Director Danny Pearlstein said. “She must flip the switch now and rebuild riders’ trust in her commitment to our common infrastructure.”

The plan will be officially voted on by the MTA board next week.