Zeldin Blasts MTA's Continued Fiscal Mismanagement Following Report by Empire Center for NYS Policy

State Senator Lee M. Zeldin (R, C, I- Shirley) released the following statement in response to a report on MTA payroll by the Empire Center for NYS Policy:

"Once again, a new report has been released highlighting the MTA's continued fiscal mismanagement. This time the issue is with the MTA's payroll. Whether it’s increasing payroll expenses, excessive salaries for administration, or abusive overpayments to employees, the MTA continues to come up short in bringing the expense side of the ledger in line with the revenue side of the ledger.

The MTA blames an arbitrator's award to union members as the cause while completely failing to acknowledge other relevant factors like the fact that top MTA brass and overtime abusers still make over $230,000 per year.

I have had the opportunity to meet some great employees who work for the MTA, but their qualifications, credibility and performance, are being greatly overshadowed by the widespread fiscal abuse by their colleagues. Taxpayer funded bailouts like the MTA Payroll Tax continue to wrongfully exist while certain inefficiencies are left unaddressed.

Why should so many employees of the MTA be earning substantially higher than the Governor of the State of New York? If the MTA was the most efficiently run mass transportation hub in the world than maybe the salaries would be a pill easier to swallow. The fact is that the MTA is not. Improvements must be drastically made and as long as reports like this continue to highlight excess, Comptroller audits continue to identify waste, and other important savings opportunities continue to go unrealized, accountability of the MTA must be one of the most important priorities to the Governor, State Legislature, media and public."