Running on empTA

Apparently the MTA payroll tax is not working.

Westchester, Rockland, Dutchess, Putnam and Orange counties need to dig deeper into their pockets and pay more.

Why else would the MTA be in such dire straits?

Or maybe the authority pays a bit too much in overtime, like $590 million.

If that sounds bad, imagine being some of the 140 MTA workers who actually doubled their annual salaries via overtime pay last year.
Imagine trying that at your job.

Imagine your boss even letting you do that.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli calls this a “culture of acceptance.”

We are mighty sure that there is no business in the Hudson Valley that would be accepting of that sort of culture, especially during this unruly recession.

There are certain basic principles that businesses adhere to. There are also generally accepted accounting principles most businesses adhere to as well.

When you don”™t abide by these rules, you find yourself in the kind of deep hole the MTA finds itself.

“Uncontrolled overtime has been the rule rather than the exception at the MTA,” DiNapoli said in his report. “The MTA is cutting services, raising fares and tolls and laying-off employees, but it should be doing more to control expenses. Overtime shouldn”™t equate to twice someone”™s annual salary. When scores of employees are earning more in overtime than they make in salary, it”™s time for the MTA to change the culture of acceptance to a culture of accountability.”

This lack of business acumen borders on the criminal.

In fact, perhaps state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo should take a peek into this runaway railroad.

The MTA”™s auditing, or lack thereof, is audacious at best.

DiNapoli”™s auditors were tougher. In looking at the MTA”™s books between January 2008 and December 2009, they found four of the authority”™s seven agencies ”“ the LIRR, Metro-North, Bridges and Tunnels and NYC Transit ”“accounted for almost 90 percent of all MTA overtime. The state auditors found that the MTA”™s central office accepted overtime budgets from these agencies without questioning them or suggesting perhaps that maybe they might want to look into reducing overtime.

Some of the reasons for overtime border on the ridiculous. Witness this gem in the audit:
“Routine track maintenance work is often performed by workers on overtime, because the workers”™ regular work shifts coincide with peak service periods when the tracks are not available for routine maintenance.”

We don”™t run a railroad here at the newspaper, but it would seem to us that working on the tracks when all the trains are running at peak times, would not be a good time to schedule such work.