NEW YORK – The Metro-North Committee of MTA has approved reimbursing the City of Newburgh for the cost of leasing the parking lot and mooring space for the Newburgh-Beacon Ferry.
The city approved a new two-year lease to run from February 1, 2017 through
December 31, 2018. The property which has been leased for the 250 parking
spaces and mooring was sold and the new lease is with the current owners.
The MTA has been reimbursing Newburgh for the cost which amounts to $21,278
per month with reimbursement for the state Department of Transportation.
MTA Board Member Charles Moerdler expressed the need to approve funding reimbursements like this one much sooner.
“The City of Newburgh is in an extreme mess and has been for a long time, currently can’t afford anything,” Moerdler told fellow Metro-North Committee members at their monthly meeting on Monday. “It seems to me that maybe we ought to spend a little bit of time in the very near future trying to solidify some vehicle in and by which we can assure the people of the area that they are going to get the service and not just come up with it at the beginning of 2018 or the end of 2018.”
Chairwoman Susan Metzger of Warwick said the reason the lease was resolved at the 11th hour was because of the sale of the property to a new owner. She said Newburgh is “bootstrapping itself out of the doldrums” and the ferry has given a strong commitment to aid in that regrowth of the city’s waterfront.
The full MTA Board must now approve the lease reimbursement.
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