WPCNR TAPPAN ZEE TIMES. From Westchester County Association. March 4, 2008: Citing  the New York State Comptroller’s recent assertion that New York State literally cannot afford to pay for a replacement or even a major rehabilitation  of the Tappan Zee Bridge—estimated at more than $14 billion—The Westchester County Association (WCA) today announced that it is aggressively exploring privatization of the bridge as perhaps the only practical way to resolve the bridge crisis. The Comptroller suggested a public/private partnership approach to the problem.

William Mooney, President of the Westchester County Association in January with Westchester County Executive  Andrew Spano, at the WCA Breakfast with Andy Spano event, when Mr. Spano called for private investment to take over infrastructure improvements.

 William M. Mooney, Jr., President of the area’s preeminent business organization, said that the WCA has reached out to a number of Wall Street firms that have started ”infrastructure funds.”  He said: “The burden of maintaining and repairing infrastructure elements such as the Tappan Zee Bridge that was built in the 1950s is becoming financially prohibitive for government entities. This arguably is the single most crucial element in our regional infrastructure, and it would be irresponsible to not explore all alternatives to financing reconstruction.”

”In Europe, a shift toward privatization has been underway for quite some time. Now, there is  growing interest in the U.S. as evidenced by both states and cities exploring the sale of leases for the turnpikes in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, a toll road in Texas and Chicago’s Midway Airport.”

Mooney added, “We believe that elected officials have the responsibility to explore all avenues to finance our infrastructure, both public and private, to find the best solutions to maintain and upgrade our infrastructure in a way that will not put an additional tax burden on the citizens of Westchester County.” 

Last October, the WCA’s Property Tax Reform Commission recommended that privatization be considered to address the county’s infrastructure problems, notably the Tappan Zee Bridge  “With state and local leaders scrambling for cash to solve fiscal problems, conditions are now ripe to put privatization on the table for our Commission members to probe further,” Mooney added.

He noted that Comptroller DiNapoli “provided a new sense of urgency.  By laying it on the line as bluntly as he did, Comptroller DiNapoli has presented our business community and our elected officials with a challenge to seek a creative solution.  The band-aid approach of repairing the Tappan Zee Bridge is only a stop-gap. Everyone agrees that the bridge is in dire need of replacement. The question, then, is how that will be funded.”