Nassau judge sets court date for congestion pricing suit, but after tolling set to start

A Nassau state judge gave state officials until Jan. 16 to respond to Hempstead Town's lawsuit challenging the MTA's congestion pricing plan — more than a week after the tolling program is set to start — setting back the town's bid to stop it.

Nassau Supreme Court Judge Lisa Cairo on Monday ordered lawyers for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Gov. Kathy Hochul to file defense arguments by Jan. 16. The deadline effectively ends the possibility of the Nassau court blocking the plan before its implementation, which is planned for Jan. 5.  The MTA that day is set to start charging passenger vehicles $9 to enter lower Manhattan below 60th Street.

However, a federal judge in New Jersey is still considering a request for additional environmental review in another pending decision that could stop the tolling program before Jan. 5.

Representatives for the MTA, Hochul's office and the Town of Hempstead declined to comment on Monday’s order. 

Michael Gerrard, a professor at Columbia Law School who has helped coordinate lawsuits supporting congestion pricing, called the order “a positive sign for congestion pricing.”

“Legally it’s harder to shut down something that has already started than to block it from starting in the first place,” Gerrard said.

The Nassau order comes the day after the MTA cleared other legal barriers to congestion pricing. On Monday, federal courts in Manhattan and White Plains denied requests to temporarily block the plan from taking effect  in separate cases brought by a citizens group, unions representing truckers and teachers, and Orange and Rockland counties.

The Nassau court can still order a halt to congestion pricing on or after Jan. 16. President-elect Donald Trump has also vowed to try to block the plan after he assumes office on Jan. 20.

The MTA had originally planned to enact a $15 toll beginning in June. Weeks before it was set to take effect, Hochul ordered a pause, citing affordability concerns. The MTA, with the governor's approval, resurrected the plan on Nov. 18 with a lower rate of $9.

Hempstead’s case claims the MTA failed to comply with state administrative law. The agency should have allowed a 45-day pre-adoption public notice period when it approved the reduced tolling fee, lawyers for Hempstead have argued.

Just last week, Hempstead Town Supervisor Donald X. Clavin Jr. had celebrated a federal court's decision to hand the case back to state court in Nassau County. He called the revised tolling plan from Hochul, a Democrat, an “attempt to rush this thing down the throats of commuters.”

“It's a money grab and everybody knew the governor was playing games,” said Clavin, a Republican who has called the tolls a "regressive tax" that will be a hardship for town residents who commute to the city.

Gordon Tepper, a spokesman for Hochul, said Monday the governor would not “be lectured by Supervisor Clavin who just shattered the tax cap and hit Hempstead with a double-digit tax hike.”

Tepper referenced the GOP-controlled town board's decision in October to hike the property tax levy by 12.1%, Newsday has reported.

“Nearly 90% of commuters to Manhattan’s central business district rely on public transit — and this congestion reduction plan will deliver $15 billion to ensure better, faster transit for millions of working New Yorkers,” Tepper said.

With Grant Parpan