New York, New York. If you can build it here you can build it anywhere. But now you can’t build it here. At least until the state gets a new budget.
Business Week and Associated Press report that NY Governor David Paterson is “suspending hundreds of current and new construction projects” because of major budget headaches. A major highway and a huge interchange are idled by the move.
According to the story,
“Paterson administration officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday that all projects not paid for by federal economic stimulus funds will be delayed until the Legislature and the governor agree on a 2010-11 budget or emergency funding.
The extraordinary order also tells contractors on existing projects that the state won’t fund any work after the start of the new fiscal year on Thursday until there is a budget or emergency funds. The soonest that could happen is April 7, when the Legislature returns. Or it could come April 14, when an emergency spending appropriation expires.
There are some priceless bits in this story. Contractors will have to decide if they want to go ahead on their own, it says. You gotta love it. And there’s a line about this crisis coming about because state legislators went on Easter/Passover vacation without deciding on a budget. Let’s hope they have a nice time.
