Another Port Authority Deal Buried in The Weeds of Christie’s Sandy Plan
Port Authority To Pay NJ’s Share of $2 Billion Infrastructure Damage
Yesterday, the Christie Administration released its funding plan for the $1.46 billion second round of federal Sandy recovery money (to read the plan, hit this link).
A careful reader would find this $2 billion gem, buried in the weeds on page 2-30:
The Port Authority has estimated total damages from Superstorm Sandy to exceed approximately $2 billion, which does not include possible future latent damages. The Port Authority has also identified additional resiliency and mitigation projects. It is the State’s understanding that the Port Authority intends to satisfy its Sandy-related damage and resiliency costs through one or more of the following sources of funds: grant proceeds from the Federal Transit Administration and FEMA; proceeds from insurance; and available Port Authority capital funds, including through the issuance of its debt obligations.
At this time, the State anticipates that the Port Authority will meet its local share requirements, but the State will continue to assess and evaluate financial conditions at the agency. The State will also further consider the Port Authority’s unmet needs and cost share requirements if a third tranche of CDBG-DR funds is announced.
What this means is that the Port Authority will pick up NJ’s tab for its State and local match shares of at least $2 billion in Sandy damage – saving NJ hundreds of millions of dollars. More than that in the likely event that even more damages are discovered in the future.
So, it looks like Gov. Christie – and his Pal Port Authority Chairman David Samson – have pulled off another sweetheart deal.
To get the full flavor of those deals, you have to read or listen to this superb piece by WNYC investigative reporter, Andrea Bernstein: How Christie’s Men Turned the Port Authority into a Political Piggy Bank
According to documents and interviews with more than a dozen top-level sources, the governor made clear from the get-go that the agency would be the source of cash for New Jersey’s hard-up infrastructure budget. And he and his team proceeded to wrangle billions from the bi-state authority to further his political goals — much of that for projects that had never been under the Port Authority’s jurisdiction before.
“It’s politics,” said City College of New York Professor Robert “Buzz” Paaswell of Christie’s use of the Port Authority’s pot of money. “They’re using it to solve their budget problems.”
The Port deal to cover NJ’s state share for over $2 billion in Sandy damages to Port Authority infrastructure sure seems to be part of the larger pattern documented by the Bernstein story.
What these shortsighted political deals have done is bankrupt the NJ Transportation Trust Fund, increase Port Authority tolls and fees, and deferred necessary infrastructure maintenance and investments. They also divert Port and federal funds from other needed projects in the region – particularly on the NY side of the river.
And all this damage was done solely to advance Chris Christie’s political ambitions.
Think about that next time you’re stuck in traffic.