New York State’s inaugural 10-year capital plan needs more information about asset conditions, financing plans, and individual projects, according to a New York City watchdog agency.
The Citizens Budget Commission, in a policy brief on Thursday, called for better details about the matchup between planned levels of State of Good Repair spending and need, an affordable financing plan, and better project-level data to enhance tracking.
CBC President Carol Kellerman said these changes would “create a culture of collaborative infrastructure planning.” Her comments came one day after a power outage indefinitely shut down much of Metro-North Railroad’s New Haven Line.
The statewide capital plan, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York Works Task Force released in June, categorizes $174.4 billion in planned investment commitments across eight broad sectors transportation, social services and public health, education, energy, environment, development projects, public safety and general government.
Fully 65% or $113 billion of the plan is committed to transportation. The next-largest sectors social services and public health and education receive $20.9 billion and $17 billion, respectively, and comprise 21.7% of total planned spending.
State of Good Repair is a needs-based metric of the Federal Transit Administration.
The state’s capital plan includes nearly $118 million for State of Good Repair, but project specifics are lacking, according to the the commission.
“Although this seems like a sizeable commitment, it is not possible to judge whether it will meet the state’s needs because the information available about the condition of the state’s infrastructure assets,” the CBC said.
