The news that an MTA Congestion Plan is scheduled to start in January should be dead in the water.
The MTA (Money Taking Agency) has evaded oversight from the state Authorities Budget Office for five years.
The state Authorities Budget Office recently released its annual report on the finances of New York’s 592 public authorities, including the MTA.
The outstanding debt for all public authorities in New York State was a whopping $278.4 billion in 2023. (This does not include the MTA and the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority, which didn’t report their data on time.)
The MTA faced a fiscal crisis last year and has refused to rein in toll vasion and costly work rules. How can 700-plus employees accrue $100,000 in overtime above their lucrative base salaries when we still don’t have electrified trains to Greenport and Montauk, LI ? The Oyster Bay LIRR train trestle across the LIE has been rusted and crumbling for years. In the winter, this very trestle has large ice formations that fall on passing cars with no remediation from the MTA-LIRR.
The MTA evades transparency and will be facing litigation from varying entities across New York, Long Island and New Jersey. Will the MTA face impending receivership and possible privatization ? The MTA has the answer while Gov. Hochul is complicit with the MTA’s woes. New York risked bankruptcy 50 years ago in April 1975. Might it happen again real soon? Stay tuned!