Cuomo Proposes New Way to Fund MTA, but Re-hashes Old Feud with City

The state wants to usurp the city's power to collect property taxes in some key transportation hubs like Penn Station and along the Second Avenue Subway train line.

The tweak in the state tax code was buried deep within Governor Cuomo's executive budget released last week. City representatives are furious about the proposal.

On a conference call with reporters, Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan said if the governor wants to collect taxes — like was done for the Atlantic Yards project — he needs to negotiate with the city first.

"That is very different, than for first time in my memory having the state propose to simply take away local property taxes and only the local property taxes of New York City," he said.

On a separate call with reporters MTA President Pat Foye fired back that if the mayor doesn't like the plan, he have his representatives on the MTA veto any transportation proposals that might arise.