Lessons Learned In A Busy Week . . .

$354 million isn’t as much as you think, and $1 billion is significantly harder to just slip in unnoticed:

Critics of Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan are charging that the revised legislation under consideration in Albany rests on an accounting trick that makes it appear as if the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey would share in the costs by contributing $1 billion toward the program.

In fact, as critics of congestion pricing are pointing out, the $1 billion is not a new source of money but would be taken out of capital funds that the authority has already set aside for the state under its 10-year capital projects plan, which was approved in December 2006.

“The use of Port Authority funds is a sleight of hand to disguise flaws in the plans,” a Democratic assemblyman of Queens, Michael Gianaris, said.

. . .

Under the revised legislation, if the Port Authority didn’t contribute $1 billion toward the MTA capital plan, New Jersey motorists using the Hudson River crossings would be forced to pay up to $3 more in congestion fees.

“This amended bill also now includes provisions that will make it certain that commuters who use Hudson River Port Authority crossings are contributing their share of revenue to the MTA capital plan, which will result in more funds for mass transit improvements throughout our region,” Mr. Bloomberg said in a statement.

After the amended bill was announced, critics of congestion pricing in the Legislature wondered where the Port Authority money would come from.

A high-level Assembly aide said yesterday that critics were “suspicious” of the source of the funds but hadn’t determined what part of the Port Authority budget would be used.

As it turns out, according to public officials, the authority money exists as unallocated funds for regional transportation projects essentially under the control of New York’s governor.

“Practically, all it would do would be to shift money from other New York projects, and that is a three-card Monte game,” a Democratic assemblyman of Westchester, Richard Brodsky, said.