On Wednesday, despite widespread objection from advocacy groups, editorial boards, legislators and the regional administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA) unanimously voted in favor of a $256 million loan from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to help finance New NY Bridge projects.

During the board meeting,  NYSTA chairman Howard Milstein stated that the savings on this loan will be substantially higher than what was claimed leading up to the July 16 Public Authorities Control Board (PACB) meeting: “By saving us $35 million in financing costs, the loan will be helping us to keep future tolls as low as possible,” said Howard Milstein, the authority’s chairman.

In a document released by the Thruway Authority after the PACB vote, savings on the full $511 million loan are stated to be $17 million. Accordingly, on the no-interest $256 million loan approved yesterday, savings would be $10 million. The 350 percent inflation of savings that Milstein is claiming is inexplicable.

As before, there has yet to be any mention as to how much toll payers will save; if they know what the savings will be, they could calculate the reduction in tolls.

Milstein also repeatedly explained at the meeting that they didn’t know what the bridge will cost, and therefore could not come up with a financial plan nor could they estimate future tolls or even how the bridge construction will be funded. “We don’t actually know many of the elements of the cost yet,” Milstein stated. “We do know how those costs will be paid.” Tolls.

The public, yet again, is left in the dark. For New York State to barrel ahead with the largest infrastructure project in the state despite fuzzy numbers that morph from week to week is inexcusable. It is up to the Authorities Budget Office to determine if the public has been misled during this controversial loan approval process.