NY/NJ Port Authority To Vote On $3.9B Budget

Board members of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey are reportedly scheduled to vote on a $3.9 billion budget. The agenda includes reelection of top officers and discussion of a lucrative port deal, signaling that a dispute between the governors of New York and New Jersey is moving toward a resolution. The budget reportedly calls for no hikes in PATH fares and tolls at Port Authority bridges and tunnels for a ninth year. The commissioners also are expected to discuss a possible lease for the Port Newark terminal that Maersk Line vacated after it acquired Sea-Land Service and moved into its 350-acre terminal in Port Elizabeth. A top contender for taking over the 154-acre property are subsidiaries of London-based Peninsular & Oriental Navigation Co. P&O would pay three times more rent an acre than Maersk Sealand. Absent from the agenda, however, are important issues that are unlikely to be dealt with until a dispute between New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman and New York Gov. George Pataki is resolved. Those items include a new lease for Maersk Sealand and expansion of the Howland Hook Marine Terminal on Staten Island.