POUGHKEEPSIE – State Senator Rob Rolison has renewed calls to conduct an independent forensic audit of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), including tolling equipment installed on city and state-owned roads ahead of congestion pricing’s original start date of June 30th.
Rolison (R, Poughkeepsie) has co-sponsored bill S.4190, legislation that would require a public accounting firm to report its findings on or before January 2026.
“The congestion tax was a mistake. Let’s not double down on that error by handing the MTA a blank check,” said Rolison. “We can provide modern public transit – a government function I support – while offering commuters and taxpayers assurances that their money is being wisely spent.”
Last week, Governor Hochul announced that she had directed the transit agency to “indefinitely pause” the congestion pricing on cars entering Manhattan below and including 60th Street. In subsequent days, allies of the governor characterized the pause as “temporary,” according to reports. Rolison’s bill could be voted on immediately by the Senate should the upper chamber of the legislature be called back into session this summer to appropriate $1 billion or more the MTA claims it requires to cover the phase-in of its five-year capital program and operate more than “basic services.”
Rolison opposes increases to the Hudson Valley’s share of the metropolitan commuter transportation mobility tax, commonly known as the MTA payroll tax, to fund a new state appropriation. The MTA’s reported shortfall was then an estimated $600 million, Rolison said.
Scanners and other tolling equipment were being installed at approximately 120 detection sites in New York City starting in 2023. According to its 2019 contract with Nashville-based Transcore, the MTA committed to pay $507 million over six years to build out the infrastructure.
“My bill will provide the necessary transparency everyday taxpayers have been demanding from the MTA for years,” said Rolison. “Before we move forward with another round of funding to address the transit agency’s budgetary shortfalls, New Yorkers deserve a full accounting of what has been spent and where that spending goes. The state legislature should pass this comprehensive forensic audit today.”
