Motorists and taxpayers now have more reason to be concerned regarding how New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo will find several billion to pay for construction of the new Mario Cuomo Tappan Zee Bridge.
He previously claimed it was finished on time and on budget, which was not the case.
The final price tag may have gone up even more.
The project contractor is now seeking up to $900 million more in additional reimbursement for costs incurred during construction.
This includes overtime for project schedule acceleration and change orders to the base contract for additional work.
The $900 million is on top of the previous $2.6 billion outstanding balance of $3.9 billion needed to pay for the Tappan Zee.
There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch or in this case, construction of a bridge. At the end of the day, someone has to pay.
The Citizens Budget Commission previously reported that tolls on the new bridge will likely increase from $5.00 to $10.50 after 2020.
Even if the New York State Thruway Authority is successful in negotiating an amount less $900 million, there is only $548 million included in the project budget for contingency. How much of the contingency dollars have already been spent for previously approved contract change orders?
There is no additional funding included within the existing project budget or recently adopted new $168 billion 2018-2019 state budget to cover these unanticipated final costs. Tolls may have to either go up earlier than 2020 or be increased even more than the previously predicted.
Gov. Cuomo made a cold political calculation by promising not to raise the tolls when running for another term in 2018 or president in 2020 (the world’s worst kept secret).
To pay back the $1.6 billion federal loan and $1 billion New York Thruway Authority Bond which helped finance the new $3.9 billion Tappan Zee Bridge along with up to $900 million in final bills to the contractor, tolls will have to go up by double or more over several years. The well respected Moody’s Investment Services previously estimated the tolls will go up to $7.60 by 2021 and $15 by 2026 for the Thruway Authority to be able to pay back the loan, bond and now up to $900 million more in contractor final payment claims.
It is time for Gov. Cuomo to direct the New York State Economic Development Corporation to stop wasting millions of dollars in feel-good ads, which include promoting the new Tappan Zee.
These dollars might be better spent as a down payment to help cover the remaining billions in costs.
It is a safe bet Cuomo will exit Albany leaving taxpayers and commuters to pay higher fares, taxes and tolls in coming years for a total final project cost closer to $5 than $3.5 billion to cover his tab.
Larry Penner
(Larry Penner is a transportation historian and advocate who previously worked 31 years for the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration Region 2 NY Office).
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