New York State lawmakers and Gov. Mario M. Cuomo said last week that they have reached a final agreement on a $21 billion transportation financing program.
The plan, which includes about $7 billion in bond sales, was announced last summer, but remained incomplete until late Friday, when lawmakers signed a memorandum of understanding.
The program will include $9.5 billion in capital improvements completed by New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority for mass transit projects, and $9.69 billion for state highway and bridge work.
The state will also earmark money for local transportation needs and other services.
"The capital program will improve New York's roads, bridges, [and] mass transit systems ... making travel safer and faster around the state," Cuomo said in a press release. The program is expected to support 250,000 construction jobs through 1996, he said.
The transportation financing plan is the subject of a lawsuit filed by taxpayer activist Robert L Schulz, who claims the bond portion violates constitutional provisions requiring voter approval for the sale of state debt.
Under the plan, the state will sell bonds through the transportation authority and the New York State Thruway Authority to finance part of the program. Under this "backdoor" method, the state says, voter approval is not required for the bond sales.
But Schulz says the bond issuance is unconstitutional because it will finance state programs. The suit will be heard by the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, in the coming months.
As he announced the transportation agreement, Cuomo said he is considering placing a bond act on the ballot to finance unspecified projects to help prevent crime. The Legislative Gazette, a newspaper that covers state government, reported yesterday that during a radio broadcast Cuomo said he is considering a bond issue that would finance "weapons, furniture, a lot of other stuff. Youth camps, offices for patrol officers ... automobiles," but not prisons.
Cuomo's recent attempts to win voter approval to sell state bonds have not been successful. In 1992, his bond act to stimulate construction jobs was easily defeated. In 1991, New Yorkers rejected a bond act to build prisons. Since then, the state has financed prison repair and construction using the Urban Development Corp. as a conduit.
