Today, the City Council is planning to vote to steal millions of dollars from dozens of New Yorkers engaged in a legal trade. This blatant robbery is the pending bill to ban the 68 Central Park horse carriages. The market value of the medallions is in the neighborhood of $400,000 each, or more than $25 million total. Once the medallions are voided, the value is zero. That is a theft of property.
The bill only says that the mayor shall, by April Fools’ Day, “develop and implement a program to assist owners of horses used in the operation of horse drawn cabs and owners of horse drawn cabs that includes consideration of whether to establish a program to compensate horse drawn cab owners for the value of their horse drawn cab businesses, horse drawn cab licenses, and equipment.”
Among the factors shall be “the relevant fair market value of such businesses, horses, or equipment.” But by next April, with the June 1, 2028 ban approaching, there will be little for consideration as the fair market value of the medallions will be a fraction of today. The medallion owners don’t want money; they want the right that they purchased with the medallion: to operate a business and generate income. That was the contract that they entered into with the city and that contract is binding.
The medallions go back to the 1937 Haas Act, which also created the yellow taxi medallions, purchased from the city at the outset for $10 a pop, with the ability to hold it forever or sell it. In fact, in earlier years, a medallion could be used for either a yellow taxi or a horse carriage. Regulated and licensed horse carriages here go back to 1692, when the English ruled New York.
A 1813 New York City law to regulate hackney coaches said that the $5 licenses were only good for a year and had to be renewed each year. If that was the current situation, a sunsetting would be simple.
But permanent medallions, which can be sold and resold, are not revocable. And the value of a medallion is not what the holder paid for it. We’ve heard that one of the 68 medallions is still in the same family that bought it for $10 in 1937. If sold now, that would be worth $400,000.
There isn’t a single penny in the legislation to buy back the medallions, but that doesn’t mean that the 51-member Council doesn’t think about money. This summer they voted themselves a $27,000 yearly raise of their $148,500 salaries to $175,500, an 18.2% hike. And they made the raise retroactive back to Jan. 1 and guess what, tomorrow is when they get the back pay as a big bonus in their paychecks, which we estimate at $21,870.
Speaker Julie Menin correctly declined the new salary of $194,400 and will stay at $164,500 a year, so that means that the speaker instead of being the highest paid member, will be the lower paid member, $11K less than her colleagues.
Their jobs and incomes are all guaranteed until their terms expire at the end of 2029. They better not interfere with the jobs and income of the carriage industry or they will be hauled into court for violating the rights of the medallion owners. Theft is still illegal even if wrapped up in a City Council bill.