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S 4475

Requires the metropolitan transportation authority to publish certain information pertaining to capital project data for projects that are committed for construction on the capital program dashboard

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Brad Hoylman-Sigal and 1 co-sponsor

Imposes a $3 per occupied hotel room per day surcharge in Newark to fund a dedicated fire services trust fund for firefighting hiring, training, and equipment.

REFERRED TO TRANSPORTATION
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Bill Summary · S 4475

Note: the bill title and initial line you supplied (requiring the MTA to publish capital project data) do not match the bill text and fiscal documents you provided. The documents you attached (fiscal note, committee statement, bill text) describe a different S-4475 that would impose a hotel-room surcharge to fund municipal fire services (applying to Newark). Below I summarize the bill reflected in the provided documents. If you intended the MTA transparency bill, please upload its text or confirm and I will summarize that instead.

Summary — S-4475 (as reflected in attached documents)

Title (as amended): Imposes a surcharge on hotel occupancies in certain municipalities to fund fire services; provides for appropriation.

Purpose

To create a dedicated revenue source (a $3 per occupied hotel room per day surcharge) in a municipality that is a “city of the first class” containing an international airport (practically, Newark) and to direct those revenues into a municipal fire services trust fund to support firefighting services.

Key provisions

  • Surcharge: $3 per day for every occupied hotel room that is taxable under state hotel occupancy law.
  • Geographic scope: Applies to hotels in a municipality classified as a city of the first class that contains an international airport (the City of Newark).
  • Collection & remittance: The Director of the Division of Taxation collects the surcharge, certifies collections monthly to the State Treasurer, and the Treasurer (upon warrant of the Director of Division of Budget & Accounting) remits amounts monthly to the municipality.
  • Dedicated trust fund: All surcharge revenues are deposited into a municipal “fire services trust fund” and may be used solely for firefighting services.
  • Permitted uses: Hiring, retention, and training of fire service employees; acquisition of fire service equipment; capital improvements benefitting the fire service.
  • Budgeting condition: Trust fund revenues may be appropriated in the municipal budget only if the municipality’s total appropriations for firefighting services in the current fiscal year exceed those of the prior fiscal year (excluding amounts appropriated from the trust fund).
  • Hiring/retention cap: For 2026–2028, expenditures for hiring and retention may not exceed 37% of surcharge revenue deposited into the trust fund. Beginning Jan 1, 2029, the Director of the Division of Local Government Services (DCA) may set the maximum percentage for hiring/retention.
  • Effective date: The act takes effect the first day of the second month after enactment.

Fiscal impact (Office of Legislative Services estimate)

  • Newark projected revenue from the surcharge:
    • CY 2025 (partial year; assumed enactment July 1, taking effect Sept. 1): $960,000 – $1.1 million
    • CY 2026 and CY 2027: $2.9 million – $3.4 million annually
  • Estimation assumptions: ~4,400 hotel rooms in Newark; occupancy rate assumed 60–70%; $3 per occupied room per day; full-year calculation uses 365 days.

Who is affected

  • Primary beneficiary: City of Newark’s fire services (hiring, training, equipment, capital projects).
  • Payors: Hotel guests staying in covered hotels in Newark (surcharge added to room occupancy charges).
  • Administrators: Division of Taxation (collection), State Treasurer and Division of Budget & Accounting (monthly remittance), DCA’s Division of Local Government Services (future percentage limits).

Legislative status & actions (selected)

  • Introduced: May 19, 2025; referred to Senate Community & Urban Affairs, then to Budget & Appropriations.
  • June 26, 2025: Reported by Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee with amendments (committee added appropriation language and clarified title/synopsis).
  • June 30, 2025: Substituted by A5688 (1R) (companion Assembly bill).
  • Sponsors: Senator Jessica Ramos (primary); Brad Hoylman-Sigal (cosponsor).
  • Related: Companion A5688; prior-session bill S-3545.

Notes / caveats

  • The bill is explicit that surcharge revenues are intended to supplement, not supplant, general municipal funding for firefighting.
  • The committee amendment added an appropriation provision making transfers subject to approval by the Director of the Division of Budget & Accounting.
  • If you intended the MTA capital-project transparency measure (different subject in your first line), please confirm or share that bill’s text so I can prepare the correct summary.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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