By Dan Clark
Capitol Bureau

ALBANY — New York will not comply with an order from President Donald J. Trump’s administration to stop collecting tolls through the congestion pricing program in New York City next month, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday.

That program charges drivers a $9 toll when they enter the busiest parts of Manhattan, stretching from 60th Street to the southern tip of the island borough.

“They’re telling us we have to have an orderly cessation by the end of March. I’m saying I’m going to have to have an orderly resistance,” Hochul said on MSNBC. “We are not turning off the cameras.” 

Hochul’s comments came after the state received a letter from the Federal Highway Administration demanding an end to the program by March 21. 

“(New York) and its project sponsors must cease the collection of tolls on federal-aid highways in the (congestion pricing) area by March 21,” the letter said.

The consequences of defying that order are unclear but could result in legal action taken against the state by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The U.S. Department of Transportation said in a letter to the Hochul administration last week that it was rescinding federal approval for the controversial tolling program, which began in early January.

Hochul and other Democrats from New York have tried to frame that decision as a reversal of the Trump administration’s broad support of states’ rights, the idea of restricting the reach of the federal government.

“They’re telling me as a state that I can’t control my own traffic, that I have to go to them for approval to control traffic in New York City,” Hochul said Thursday.

The disagreement is now headed to court. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a state agency that had planned to use the toll revenue to maintain and update the city’s mass transit system, sued the Trump administration last week.

That lawsuit argues, in part, that federal law doesn’t allow the U.S. Department of Transportation to unilaterally terminate the program. The case is pending, with no action since last week.

But New York is also facing litigation that seeks to kill congestion pricing, including a lawsuit filed by the state of New Jersey. There have been several legal motions in that case but the program remains intact.

Republicans in the state Senate who represent districts in the suburbs of New York City urged Hochul to drop her support for the program this week.

They’ve opposed it, as have some Democrats in the suburbs, because of the extra cost it imposes on commuters and people living on a fixed income. They argue that funding for the transportation authority shouldn’t rely on those people.

Republicans also want a forensic audit of the MTA, arguing that the state could find areas where money could be saved and used for capital projects.

“The fact is that it’s been mismanaged for years,” said state Sen. Bill Weber, a Republican from the lower Hudson Valley. “It needs to have a top-down review.”

Trump has not signaled a willingness to intervene on Hochul’s behalf and save the tolling program, which he strongly opposes. Hochul hopes she can change his mind.

“I just hope the president will give us another chance to prove this,” Hochul said.