Gov. Kathy Hochul is still scrambling to lock down money for her $154 million surge of NYPD on overnight subway trains, even as the first wave of cops hit the tunnels this week.
Only half the cash needed for the six-month surge is lined up — and Hochul asked for the remaining $77 million in the budget plan she unveiled Tuesday.
The request still needs the approval of state lawmakers in Albany, potentially leaving New York City on the hook if legislators fail to bite.
Until the money is lined up, the NYPD likely would have to front the overtime for the 300 officers who’ll ultimately patrol the trains, a source familiar with the talks said.
“We are talking picking up the overtime costs for these individuals,” Hochul said during a news conference after she unveiled her massive $252 billion budget proposal.
Hochul last week finally acknowledged a rise in violent subway crime during her policy-setting “State of the State” address.
She announced that she’d post NYPD officers inside every overnight subway train between 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., with the state footing the bill. She also said another 750 officers will be posted on platforms and stations during the day and night.
The governor largely kept details, including cost, on the surge vague — but eventually revealed the first $77 million would be paid from the current state budget.
The lingering funding questions still didn’t stop the surge’s kickoff Monday – and Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Chief of Transit Joseph Gulotta provided more details the next day on how the effort will take shape.
The surge began on the A, G, J and L lines, with two officers as planned going on each train, Gulotta said.
“It was very successful,” he said. “We were able to get them out onto those trains.”
The first wave will consist of roughly 100 cops, but eventually swell to 300 total, Gulotta said.
MTA conductors will announce to straphangers that cops are on the trains, he said.
And the cops will step onto platforms and back into trains at each stop, the chief said.
Hours before the surge began, a 39-year-old man was punched and slashed in the chest in what appeared to be an unprovoked attack on a D train, police said.
The attack unfolded near the Dekalb Avenue stop around 2:45 a.m., and the victim was taken to a local hospital in stable condition, police said.
— Additional reporting by Amanda Woods
