- A Long Island Rail Road train arrives at a station
Republican lawmakers have asked Gov. David Paterson to withhold payment of Nassau County’s portion of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority
(MTA) payroll tax until a forensic audit is conducted and reiterated calls Monday to repeal the controversial tax.
Piggybacking on the fallout from the MTA’s proposed service cuts and fare increases last week that prompted Nassau County officials to sue the state transit agency, the lawmakers held a news conference at the Long Island Rail Road’s Hicksville station where they restated calls to repeal the MTA tax, audit the MTA and form an independent financial review board to monitor the agency’s business dealings.
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“Nassau County sends approximately $40 million back to the MTA’s loose pockets every three months, with nothing more than higher fares, more expensive parking permits, and crowded trains to show for it—the authority may even go ahead with the elimination of one of the largest suburban bus systems in the country,” said Assem. Michael Montesano (R-Glen Head), referring to Long Island Bus, which serves Nassau County.
Montesano demanded that the MTA “receive no further tax revenues until a nonpartisan Fiscal Oversight Control Board can establish the transit agency’s true finances in order to rein in out-of-control waste and inefficiencies.”
MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said in a statement: “How the MTA should be funded is a question for the Legislature, but the payroll tax is an important revenue source for the MTA and its existence prevented service cuts and proposed fare increases from being even worse.” He added that the agency is regularly audited by various government entities.
Montesano and his GOP allies have repeatedly called for New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli to conduct a forensic audit, which would be more comprehensive than the standard audits that the comptroller conducts.
A DiNapoli spokesman contended that the dozen audits of the MTA and its subsidiaries currently being conducted are very thorough and suggested that a true forensic audit, which is traditionally intended for use in a court of law, would be cost prohibitive for an agency so large. Ortiz said he welcomes a forensic audit.
The lawmakers also took issue with recent reports of “phantom overtime,” or $34 million to pay vacationing or absent MTA employees, in 2010. The agency’s leadership is currently facing an $800 million budget gap, despite a payroll tax in the MTA’s service area as part of a 2009 bailout. The tax requires employers to pay the state 34 cents per every $100 in payroll.
The MTA’s proposed service cuts and fare hikes are subject to public hearings and will not be finalized until January 2011.
