NEW YORK – There will
be no toll increases on the New York State Thruway in 2017. Thruway Authority
Chief Financial Officer Matthew Howard presented his proposed 2017 budget
of $1.8 billion to the authority board on Monday.
The spending plan is down from the $2 billion in the 2016 budget, in part
because the Canal Corporation, which has been managed by the Thruway Authority,
will be transferred next year to the New York Power Authority.
The capital program, which includes funding for the new Tappan Zee Bridge,
will also reflect a decline, Howard said.
“The capital program includes $721 million in spending on the New
York bridge and in 2016, we budgeted for $1 billion to be spent and as
the project reached completion of many of the major aspects, we indicated
that the annual spending level would decline, so as a result, this budget
actually includes a reduction of about $294 million spending on the New
York bridge in 2017,” he said.
The new year will also be the first in several that will include no state
subsidy.
