"If the state had said it was freezing payments to all vendors across all industries, we would have accepted that," Denise Richardson, managing director of the General Contractors Association of New York, tells GlobeSt.com. "What bothers us is that we were the industry that was singled out for this."
Paterson's order does not say that contractors must stop work on the state-funded projects, only that they cannot expect to be paid until after the budget is finalized. The order, issued in accordance with emergency legislation to keep the state government going temporarily, does not affect progress on projects funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Nor does it halt payment for capital project expenses "incurred to address emergency health and safety needs," according to a statement from Stanley Gee, acting state commissioner of transportation.
For the 506 projects statewide that are affected, the earliest the funding spigot could be turned back on could be April 8, when the state legislature returns from its Easter/Passover recess. Failing that, action could come after April 14, when an emergency spending appropriation expires. "Contractors are assessing the likelihood of this problem continuing past the emergency funding period," Richardson says.
If funding for the projects through the state's Department of Transportation doesn't return soon after Paterson and legislators take up the budget again, contractors will start making contingency plans to shut down job sites. That would include plans for storing equipment and materials and making sure the stopped work sites don't present a safety hazard, Richardson says. Should the budget process be protracted, as it has been in previous years, there will be project shut downs and layoffs.
To the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York and the Building Trades Employers' Association, that's an unthinkable scenario. The two groups note that unlike this one, previous stopgap spending measures have covered construction funding, and jointly they're calling on Paterson to send the Senate and Assembly emergency legislation so that the projects can continue.
"The suspension of current and new construction projects is unacceptable," says BCTC president Gary LaBarbera in a statement. "We have lost more than 58,000 construction jobs statewide in the last two years, including 22,000 in New York City, due to the recession. We cannot afford to lose more jobs due to government inaction." Adds BTEA president Louis Coletti, "The construction industry is the biggest economic engine of any sector of the economy; shutting these job sites down means lost business opportunities for everyone."
Largest of the suspended projects statewide is the $470-million rehabilitation of the Alexander Hamilton Bridge in the Bronx. In New York City, there are at least a dozen affected projects, as well as several on Long Island and in the city's northern suburbs, according to a partial list of projects released by the state DOT. Among the largest are a $146-million rehabilitation of the Gowanus Expressway in Brooklyn, a $137-million project to replace the aging Roslyn Viaduct over Hempstead Harbor on Long Island and the $164-million reconstruction of the Cross Westchester Expressway through White Plains and Harrison in Westchester County.
In an interview Wednesday with Fox TV affiliate WNYW, Paterson defended the emergency order. "We are not saying the projects should be delayed, but we are saying that the payments should be delayed," Paterson said. "Right now our financial situation is so vulnerable that we have to consider everything in order to keep the state from becoming bankrupt."
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