IT'S ABOUT TIME!

bruce.golding@nypost.com

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli will launch an audit of the MTA's books in response to public outrage over the proposed fare hikes, The Post has learned.

"Mass transit is crucially important to the economic well-being of the city, and the MTA has historically not done the best job of managing its resources," DiNapoli's spokesman Dennis Tompkins told The Post.
"Now it's more important than ever that they implement every possible way to save money and increase efficiencies in the system before they raise fares on the public."

The MTA's just-released spending plan for 2009 calls for double-barrel fare hikes, next July and again in 2011.

Tompkins said the comptroller expects to release an initial report analyzing the MTA's $11.2 billion budget proposal by early September. That report will determine whether there will be just one audit or a series of audits of the MTA's financial accounts and records. The analysis is intended to "help provide direction and minimize the need for rate hikes," Tompkins said.

In 2003, an audit by the state and city comptrollers found that the MTA kept two sets of books, one of which was filled with doom and gloom - and hid more than $600 million - in order to justify a fare hike. The MTA denied it. And in recent years, the state Comptroller's Office has repeatedly issued reports on the MTA's annual spending plan that called for elimination of thousands of redundant jobs at its various divisions.

An October 2004 report cited 2,110 jobs at five MTA divisions - New York City Transit, the LIRR, Metro-North, Bridges & Tunnels and the MTA headquarters - in which workers essentially performed the same functions. Those jobs included 698 workers in human resources, 443 in legal services, 359 in budgeting and accounting, and 444 in public relations and marketing. Salaries for the various positions totaled $709 million a year at the time.

In August, the Comptroller's Office again scolded the MTA for failing to share services among its divisions, saying that "progress has been slow and there have been no savings to date."

In March, MTA Executive Director Elliot Sander announced plans to create a "business service center" to consolidate back-office functions and save $40 million a year. But savings from that initiative won't kick in until 2012 - after the next two planned fare hikes.

The MTA just raised fares in March, and next year's hike would mark only the second time in its history that it has boosted fares two years in a row. The last time was in 1980 and 1981. The MTA says the higher fares are needed to generate an extra 13 percent in revenues and to offset an anticipated $900 million budget deficit that is the result of rising fuel costs and shrinking income from real-estate taxes. The authority is also saddled with massive debt, and the cost of paying it off - now $1.5 billion a year - is expected to rise to $2 billion a year by 2012.

COMMENTARY

New York State taxpayers have been tightening their budgets and making "quality of life" sacrifices to ride the tumultuous waves of today's economic crises. Kudos to NYS Comptroller Tom DiNapoli for his bold leadership in demanding that the MTA and its officials do the same! More to come...

NYS Senators Speak Out Against MTA Fare Hikes...

With the MTA's announcement of its controversial proposal to raise mass transit fares by 8% in 2009 and another 5% in January of 2011, overwhelming criticism from many NYS senators who represent Long Island commuters in New Hyde Park and neighboring communities has been duly noted in the media. The 2009 fare hike - coming on the heels of this year's fare increase - would mark the second time in history that the MTA has raised fares in two consecutive years. The only time that this occurred previously was in 1980 and 1981. If these fare increases are enacted by the MTA, it would cost Long Island commuters over 70% more than it did in 1995 to utilize the LIRR.

Senator Craig Johnson (7th Senate District), Senator John Flanagan (2nd Senate District and recently appointed to the MTA Capital Program Review Board), Senator Carl Marcellino (5th Senate District) and quite a few other state senators believe that these proposed rate hikes, coupled with the 4% hike that went into effect in March 2008, will cause an unfair hardship to Long Island commuters - in fact, making mass transit unaffordable for the average Long Island commuter.

Commentary
It is clearly evident that the MTA and the LIRR need to explore ways to streamline its operations, reduce its administrative overhead, and to cut more of its own budget in response to its present financial crisis. In addition, the time has come for the MTA to demonstrate to NYS taxpayers that it is seriously looking to tighten its own belt, rather than hitting hardworking people with a "double whammy"...fare increases to fund unnecessary and unwanted capital projects, like the Third Track Project, which seeks to inflict genuine hardship on suburban communities from Floral Park to Hicksville.

At a time when the MTA should be exhausting all efforts to avoid burdening LI commuters again, it is, instead, asking our state government (and we, the taxpayers!) and LI commuters for more money after years and years of broken promises, cost overruns, and delayed construction schedules. By scrapping the proposed Third Track Project, the MTA could save a projected $1.5 BILLION, perhaps even more than that judging by the marked increase in the third track's cost estimates since it was announced several years ago. We all know that the official MTA position on this issue has been that the third track is needed as a "passing lane" to "better facilitate" East Side Access. However, if pressed on this issue, MTA officials will admit that East Side Access can be achieved without the third track!

Residents from Floral Park to Hicksville are tired of being held hostage by the MTA. Homeowners, whose properties are potentially affected by the third track proposals, have been living in limbo far too long - since 2005! In hard economic times, these homeowners and taxpayers have been struggling for years with the decision to risk their hard earned money on costly and desperately needed home improvements in anticipation of a project that will eliminate their homes and/or properties. For years, residents and business owners have maintained valid concerns about how this project will change the suburban character of their communities, their property values, and their business's viability.

The cloud of uncertainty must be lifted! Considering the downward spiral of our nation's economy and the dismal financial realities that our state government and the MTA face at this critical time, we demand that the MTA come to its senses and withdraw its application for the Third Track Project which is currently pending before the Federal Transit Administration.

Third Track Project Stalls...

During the week of July 12^th, Helena Williams, President of the LIRR, announced that the MTA’s funding shortfalls would likely stall the Third Track Project. Although she remains committed to the goals of this project, she favors the delay of this estimated $1.5 BILLION proposal in favor of completing the LIRR/Grand Central link, also known as East Side Access Project. The cost of the latter project has skyrocketed from $6.4 BILLION to $7.2 BILLION just this year alone. Ms. Williams called her decision a “reordering of priorities” in the face of rising construction costs and the defeat of Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan which would have helped the MTA fund several of its capital projects that still have not been completed. Ms. Williams also announced that on July 23, 2008, she will ask the MTA Board to fund a study that could provide information about alternative measures to increase capacity until the third track could be constructed.

It is important to note that earlier this year, the LIRR submitted its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) - along with a list of properties which would be affected - to the Federal Transit Authority (FTA) for its approval. Thus far, the LIRR and the FTA have refused to release this information to the public.

Overall, the MTA Board, in recognition of anticipated financial shortfalls due to the serious economic decline at the present time, is also considering the delay of $2.7 BILLION worth of other projects in its capital plan as well as another fare increase just months after an approximate 4% fare increase this year. Although the Third Track Project was considered part of the new Capital Project Plan for 2010-2014, Ms. Williams stated that it appears unlikely that $1.5 BILLION for the Third Track Project could be available in this five-year plan especially when considering that $3 BILLION are still needed to complete the East Side Access Project.

The MTA plan predicts a $900 million operating shortfall next year and, along with agency belt-tightening, is expected to call on New York City and New York State government - as well as riders - to help pay it down. The MTA is expected to present a plan to its board on July 23rd that would call for an 8% increase in fare revenue in July 2009 if its financial outlook does not improve. In response to the MTA’s announcement of proposed fare hikes, Governor Patterson said, "This cannot become the new way that the MTA solves problems: Every time there's an issue, pass along the increase to the ... riders," Paterson said. "Let's explore other options rather than a fare hike." Gov. Paterson vowed to do "everything I can to prevent" an MTA fare hike next summer, he said yesterday, noting that another increase is unwise with riders still smarting from a March hike of 3.85 %. "I am asking the MTA, you go back and take another look at [the] books, because if all the people are going to have a fare hike this soon after the last fare hike, [that] just, in my opinion, is not wise."

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city already provides police patrol of the subways, among other things, and cannot afford to bail out the MTA. "We're really putting in as much money as we possibly can," he said. Bloomberg said he wouldn't support another fare increase unless the MTA can show it's tightening its own belt. "Anybody that tells you they've got a $10 billion budget and they can't find a way to cut 5 percent, that's just poor management," said the mayor.

New York State Senator Craig Johnson (7th Senate District) said, “The MTA has finally realized that now is not the time for this project. Just as we have been saying all along, the MTA has finally admitted that it does not have the funds to undertake the project…While I praise them for finally listening to us and reaching the decision to delay, I would like to see the MTA go further and stop the Third Track in its entirety once and for all.” Trustee Robert Lofaro, Deputy Mayor of New Hyde Park said, "Our objective is to abandon the entire project completely. We always suspected that funding was a problem and we are not surprised by this announcement.” Other officials in Nassau County expressed relief with the hope that the entire plan would be permanently shelved.

Despite this, MTA board members Mitch Pally of Stony Brook and James McGovern of Manhasset said they will do "everything" that can be done to ensure the work gets done. "Elected officials hailing the delay as a victory won't be celebrating forever," Pally said. "This project will be built as quickly as we can do so," Pally said.

The MTA Board will be meeting on Wed., July 23^rd to review these and other issues. Stay tuned.

Commentary

Although the Third Track Project seems to be stalled at the present time, we must remain vigilant about future proposals and we must continue to be vocal in our staunch opposition to this project. Homeowners and business owners in main line communities demand that the LIRR and the MTA withdraw the application for the project, which is pending before the FTA, and we demand the withdrawal of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the project. We, the people of main line communities who are directly affected by these unnecessary proposals, deserve the peace of mind that comes with knowing that the project will not reappear again in the future. Our homes, businesses and quality of life must not be held hostage by the MTA and the LIRR any longer!