Gyory: Put bank penalties to work for New York

Lower East side NYC. Entrance to the Williamsburg bridge. Photo Credit: Newsday/Matt Davies

It’s rare that the imperatives of good policy so easily meld with political viability. But the stars are beginning to align on a statewide infrastructure plan.

We learned in July that New York State would get $3.3 billion from the sanctions imposed on the French bank BNP Paribas. By late last month, it appeared the final settlement involving multiple banks would net the state about $4.2 billion. The settlements relate to violations of sanctions against nations like Iran and asset disclosures at the root of the mortgage securities crisis.

Former Democratic Assemb. Richard Brodsky and E.J. McMahon, president of the Empire Center for Public Policy, have proposed using the funds to pay for infrastructure projects. Because they are an ideological odd couple who, respectively, represent the progressive and conservative camps, their proposal resonated.

McMahon and Brodsky warn against using the funds to pay for liberal or conservative agendas — or new programs or new tax cuts. Their argument is sound: “Never use one-shot revenues to fund operating expenses.”

The American Society of Civil Engineers says that 1 in 9 of the nation’s bridges is structurally deficient and 42 percent of our major urban highways are congested.

Our state’s unmet infrastructure need is staggering. A 2013 report by the New York State Association of Town Superintendents of Highways Inc. put the statewide spending gap for pavement and bridge needs over the next 15 years at $19.8 billion — roughly $1.3 billion annually. Also, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has found a funding gap of $12 billion for the MTA capital plan, a program critical to transportation on Long Island and New York City.

Former Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch and Paul Volker, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve, lead a task force studying fiscal problems for states and localities around the nation. Ravitch has said the overall effect of state fiscal crises exacerbated by the Great Recession has led to a core fact: “We are drastically underinvesting in physical infrastructure — roads, bridges, ports etc. — the necessary underpinning of future growth.”

The ranks of those supporting the idea continue to grow — from Long Island, where State Senate co-leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) agrees infrastructure should be a priority, to Syracuse, where Republican Sen. John DeFrancisco and Democratic Mayor Stephanie Miner fear crumbling bridges and roads. Because hard-pressed localities can’t afford these necessary infrastructure projects, they will need the governor and the legislature to provide funds in the state budget.

And that’s good. But not nearly enough.

If candidates in our state campaigned this fall on a statewide infrastructure package paid by bank settlement funds, there is little doubt it would prove popular with both voters and fiscal watchdogs.

While $4.2 billion sounds like a lot of money it is only a fraction of what is needed. Thus, creative fiscal minds should maximize the bang for the buck by establishing a fiscally sound infrastructure bank that can use these funds and future settlement dollars to chip away at the infrastructure crisis.

We just need to exercise the power of common sense.

Bruce N. Gyory is a political and strategic consultant at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and an adjunct professor of political science at SUNY Albany.