The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) will start charging public housing tenants fees for use of “heavy duty” appliances, repairs and replacement of fixtures, and will increase parking fees from $5 per year to $75 per year starting May 1.

The fees are an attempt to close a $93 million budget deficit faced by the New York City Housing Authority, which administers the city’s public housing, according to Tino Fernandez, chairman of NYCHA.

The fees will be discounted by 20 percent for eligible senior citizens, the disabled and tenants who pay less than the ceiling rent, the agency said.

The New York City Housing Authority expects to raise about $8 million per year from the charges, which will help offset $14 million decline federal funding this year.

Congressman Charles Rangel (D-15th District), whose district includes the most public housing units in any congressional district in the country, testified in opposition to the fees at a City Hall hearing.

“While I recognize that these increases contribute to the operating budget shortfall NYCHA faces, I do not believe increased fees on tenants are the way to close the gap,” he testified. “What is abundantly clear to me is that it is not the tenants and their modest rents that are the cause of this budget crisis. It is the decline in the federal operating subsidy.”

In addition to stepping up federal assistance, Rangel recommended that Albany and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) increase funding for state-sponsored public housing development.

“The state and city should be stepping up to plug NYCHA’s budget hole,” said Rangel, adding that it is time for Albany to recognize it’s responsibility to provide adequate assistance to public housing developments not recognized by the federal government.

Redirecting money earmarked for capital improvements could help close the budget, Rangel suggested. “Perhaps where projects can be safely deferred some of those funds should be used to fill this gap.”