State lawmakers are considering a transfer tax to raise money for the MTA. What does that mean?

By all appearances, a pied-a-terre tax on second homes is out, and a real estate transfer tax on high-value sales is in. In the midst of state budget negotiations, Gov. Andrew Cuomo indicated in a radio interview on Tuesday that lawmakers were moving away from pied-a-terre in favor of a transfer tax on the purchase of real estate valued at over $5 million in order to help fund the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. In the Assembly’s budget resolution, the tax is proposed statewide for any high-dollar real estate sales, rather than for just New York City. However, state lawmakers said recently a transfer tax would apply to the same targets as the pied-a-terre tax: condos and co-ops.

According to Heastie, the annual pied-a-terre would be too difficult to administer, with the transfer tax offering a much easier alternative. A pierre-de-terre tax has never been implemented in the United States, so there is no national precedent to follow and would presumably further complicate the city’s already opaque property tax system. It would also require the city to put in place an entirely new assessment system to determine market rate values. Members of the real estate and business community, as well as fiscal watchdogs, have warned that the pied-a-terre tax could deter potential buyers from investing in New York City real estate, thus costing New York City revenue from property taxes and harming the market. Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, said a transfer tax would have less of a negative impact than the pied-a-terre on city’s luxury housing market. “The transfer tax, certainly, given all the considerations of whether you should increase taxes, it would be preferable to a pied-a-terre tax in general,” Rein said.

The NYC Ferry system served 4.1 million riders in 2018 - the equivalent of two days' worth of bus riders.

Budget watchdogs are calling out Mayor Bill de Blasio’s ferry network for its sky-high subsidies.

The NYC Ferry system serves the fewest riders among all mass transit options in the city while being kept afloat with the second-highest subsidies among those choices, the Citizens Budget Committee detailed in a new fiscal brief, “Swimming in Subsidies.”

The ferry system, launched and lauded by de Blasio in 2017, operates with a per passenger subsidy of $10.73 — coming in just under the MTA’s express bus service, which has an $11.79 subsidy per rider. It carried 4.1 million riders in 2018, or a little more than two days’ worth of trips on the city’s local bus network.

The city’s ferry system is taking taxpayers for a ride, with each passenger getting an eye-popping $10.73 subsidy, according to a budget watchdog.

In a report titled “Swimming in Subsidies,” the Citizens Budget Commission said the $2.75 fare covered just about one-fifth of the cost — and there were 4.1 million rides last year.

The subsidy is 10 times more than the $1.05 that the government kicks in for each subway trip , which is also costs $2.75.

And it’s nearly twice the $5.46 that it costs the city for every trip on the Staten Island Ferry.

City Comptroller Scott Stringer’s recent warnings about massive waste at NYC Ferry were alarming enough. But a Citizens Budget Commission report out Thursday truly, uh, rocks the boat.

For every ferry ride, the CBC found, the city kicks in an average of $10.73 of its own funds to meet costs. Every ride!

And, to be clear, that $10-plus is on top of the $2.75 fare.

That’s 10 times the average subsidy for the New York City Transit system. And double the one for the Staten Island Ferry.

And get this: A new route Mayor Bill de Blasio recently announced will run from Coney Island to Wall Street — and cost the taxpayers a mind-numbing $24.75 in subsidies for every ride.

That’s $247.50 for five round trips a week — or $12,375 a year. Is the mayor nuts?

New York sinks boatloads of taxpayer money in Mayor de Blasio’s fleet of commuter ferries.

Each passenger ride on the city’s ferries costs $13.48 -- which includes the $2.75 fare and a $10.73 taxpayer subsidy, the non-partisan Citizens Budget Commission said Thursday.

That’s a lot more than the cost of a subway ride that might cover a similar distance. Figured on a pay-per-ride basis, a subway trip costs $3.80 -- including the $2.75 fare and $1.05 in public subsidies.

High operating costs, long routes and low fares burden taxpayers with the bulk of the ferry service’s expenses.

And the costs could jump even higher when new routes to Coney Island and Staten Island launch over the next two years. The length of the Coney Island to Wall Street run could require require a public subsidy of up to $24.75 per ride, the CBC says.

Mayor Bill de Blasio's NYC Ferry system is soaking the city's taxpayers, according to a new study by a fiscally conservative think tank.

The six-route service—soon to be eight—is coasting on a wave of public cash, with operating costs reaching $56.7 million in fiscal year 2018 and capital investments projected to hit $638.5 million by 2022. Partially at fault, according to the Citizens Budget Commission, is de Blasio's insistence on pegging the cost-per-ride to the state-controlled Metropolitan Transportation Authority's subway and bus fares.

The rest of the problem, it found, is that New Yorkers only gain their sea legs on weekends in the summer—with ridership falling by two-thirds between August 2017 and the subsequent January.

The ferries mainly serve points along the East River and Upper Bay from the Bronx to Bay Ridge as well as a route to Far Rockaway. The 202-year-old Staten Island Ferry, although city-owned, is not part of NYC Ferry.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s system of ferry boats linking Manhattan with transit-poor sections of Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx is costing city taxpayers almost $11 per ride, 10 times more than they pay to subsidize subways and buses, according to the Citizens Budget Commission.

The system’s dependence on high taxpayer subsidies comes as city and state officials move toward enacting congestion pricing fees for motorists entering midtown Manhattan. That plan would cost commuters more and could increase demand for mass transit service, including the heavily-subsidized ferries. De Blasio has said he wants the cash-strapped Metropolitan Transportation Authority to take over and help finance the waterway system.

Last year, NYC Ferry ran operating costs of $56.7 million. Its 4 million riders paid only $2.75 -- the cost of a subway trip -- for a service costing $13.83 per ride. The $10.73 difference is made up with per-ride subsidies that are about twice that of the Staten Island Ferry, which is free.

The handful of cities around the globe that charge motorists a premium to drive in congested areas at peak times have seen traffic go down and revenue go up. New York City’s need for both has become a crisis. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority faces near-rebellion from riders and a $40 billion estimate to repair or improve its trains, subways, buses, bridges and tunnels. To raise the cash, congestion-pricing boosters would tax access to Manhattan’s priciest parts to encourage people to get around underground. The plan’s critics see it as a new round of tolls rather than a program that’s innovative and eco-friendly.

Carve-outs caused problems in Stockholm, where revenue fell 14 percent short of projections due to so many exempted vehicles. Revenue also disappointed officials in London when reduced traffic resulted in fewer motorists’ paying fees, according to Citizens Budget Commission data published March 19.

As New York edges closer to adopting congestion pricing, a major obstacle could stand in the way: the suburbs, where many lawmakers and commuters see the plan as benefiting the city at their expense.

Leaders in Albany announced this week that they had reached a consensus that a congestion pricing plan to charge drivers to enter Manhattan’s busiest neighborhoods was needed to raise billions of dollars for the failing subway.

Another $4.8 billion went to two huge projects: a new terminal underneath Grand Central Terminal that will serve Long Island Rail Road trains and new tracks on Long Island for more trains.

“In the past, they’ve gotten their fair share — and you could even say they’ve gotten more than their fair share because some of these megaprojects have been over budget,” said Jamison Dague, the former director of infrastructure studies for the Citizens Budget Commission.

A coalition of New York City building owners is calling on Albany to pass responsible rent reforms that protect tenants, but also small property owners who are already struggling to maintain their buildings.

Lawmakers are considering a series of amendments to the rent regulation law, which they claim will improve affordability, but will hit small landlords and strike a blow to the city’s property tax base, says the coalition.

The advertising campaign will run through June until Albany acts on rent regulation.

According to the Citizens Budget Commission, in 2017, over 28,000 households who earned more than $200,000 a year were living in rent stabilized units — saving them a total of $271 million annually.

London did it. So did Singapore and Stockholm. Now New York may finally be coming around to congestion pricing.

The idea is gaining momentum in the state capital and at city hall, giving new urgency to a plan that would transform everyday life for millions of people by charging motorists an as-yet-undetermined toll -- $11.52 according to past recommendations -- to drive south of 61st Street in Manhattan.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said Wednesday that he has the votes to pass a bill, and Governor Andrew Cuomo, a fellow Democrat, told WNYC radio he was fairly optimistic. “It’s proceeding,” he said, though “you’re not there until you’re there.”

Among the matters lawmakers still have to deal with is who to exempt from the tolls. Carve-outs caused problems in Stockholm, where revenue fell 14 percent short of projections due to so many exempted vehicles. Revenue also disappointed officials in London and Singapore when reduced traffic resulted in fewer motorists paying fees, according to Citizens Budget Commission data published March 19.

The Citizens Budget Commission is sounding the alarm that it believes the state faces a budget gap of as much as $34 billion over three years if the nation tips into a recession.

The nation is currently in the midst of a nine-year economic expansion. However, the institute sent out a report last Tuesday stating that if there is a downturn in the economy, income tax collections could come in anywhere from $22 billion to $44 billion below projections.

The CBC is a policy group that seeks change in the finances and services of New York City and state government, according to its website.

The report pointed out that the state collects about $19 billion from the top 1 percent of personal income tax filers. That money funds about one-fifth of the state coffers. There are also wide swings in the capital gains collections. In 2014, there was about $24.2 billion in capital gains on investments among state residents compared with only $20.6 billion in 2016. Each billion dollars of capital gains equates to $83 million in state tax revenues, according to the CBC.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo decreased the income tax revenue forecast by $2.6 billion after he released his initial budget. Cuomo has expressed concern about high-income earners leaving the state because of the tax burden after the implementation of the federal tax changes that capped at $10,000 the amount of state and local taxes that people can deduct on their federal return.

During the three recessions, the CBC said that tax revenue had declined an average of 3.7 percent in the first fiscal year of the recession and 6.4 percent in the second year. Extrapolating that data would mean revenues would be below projects by $5.3 billion in the first year of the recession, $14.3 billion below estimates in the second year and $14.4 billion in the first year of the recovery.

The organization recommended that New York state have about $2.5 billion in its reserves in case there is another recession. It criticized state officials for not setting aside $12 billion in one-time monetary settlements it received from 2014 to 2019.