Heard Around Town: Transportation funding fight brewing in state Senate

The state legislative session is still months away, but a fight is already brewing in the state Senate over transportation funding. Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s agreement to fund the MTA’s capital plan has spurred upstate lawmakers to call for an equitable investment in infrastructure for upstate.

Now, in the wake of several prominent upstate Republican politicians calling for more state funding for upstate infrastructure, the state Senate Democratic conference is hitting back at state Senate Republicans for failing to support the Democrats' FAIR NY plan.

“For fifty years the Republicans have controlled the State Senate and that has resulted in crumbling infrastructure, a collapsed upstate economy, higher taxes and a stagnant job market,” a state Senate Democratic spokesperson said in a statement. "The reality is the Senate Republicans are more interested in playing partisan games than helping the residents of Upstate New York."

The FAIR NY plan would have allocated $1.1 billion in transportation capital funds, $1.2 billion to help municipalities create affordable housing units and $1 billion in education infrastructure capital to help struggling schools. The plan did not pass the Republican-controlled state Senate during the 2015 legislative session.

A state Senate Republican Conference spokesperson responded to the story. In a statement he said:

"The last time the Senate Democrats were in charge they threw years of tradition and history aside by delivering for New York City and ignoring the rest of the state. There's no 5 year capital plan for roads and bridges outside of New York City right now because the Senate Democrats didn't care enough to advance one. It's that simple. If they want to assign blame for the crumbling infrastructure, these disgraceful and hypocritical Democrats should take a good hard look in the mirror and take the responsibility that is clearly theirs and theirs alone."