An audit examining the time between January 2008 and December 2009 has discovered that Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) workers have been taking the train all the way to the bank.
State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli found that $600 million in overtime budgets were approved without opposition and 140 employees doubled their annual salaries through overtime pay alone.
“Uncontrolled overtime has been the rule rather than the exception at the MTA,” said DiNapoli, who has issued 13 audits of the MTA since 2007. “They are cutting services, raising fares and tolls and laying-off employees, but it should be doing more to control expenses.”
The comptroller’s audit singled out a Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) train car repairman who received $142,857 in overtime pay, equal to 220 percent of his $64,865 yearly salary. Together, the LIRR, Metro-North, Bridges and Tunnels and NYC Transit accounted for $540 million or 90 percent of all MTA overtime.
“It’s time for the MTA to change the culture of acceptance to a culture of accountability,” said DiNapoli.
This is a sentiment the MTA agrees with.
"The comptroller’s audit confirms what we reported earlier this year and reinforces the need for the aggressive actions we’re taking to reduce unnecessary overtime. We will do our part, but active participation from our labor unions is the only way to make the type of impact we all want," MTA officials said.
Between 2005 and 2009, the MTA’s annual overtime costs increased from $468 million to $590 million, an increase of 26 percent. DiNapoli recommends that the MTA matches work schedules to work opportunities and follow up on 59 overtime payments that were identified as “questionable.”
