Government watchdogs and transit advocates have put new pressure on the MTA to tackle its labor costs after fiscal watchdog group the Empire Center revealed it spent $1.3 billion on overtime in 2018. Read More
Category: Media Coverage
The heightened focus on overtime follows a report by the Empire Center for Public Policy, a fiscally conservative, nonprofit think tank based in Albany, that revealed six of the top 10 earners at the MTA last year were LIRR laborers, whose senior status allowed them to significantly increase their take-home pay by piling on overtime. The MTA's highest-paid employee last year, LIRR chief measurement officer Thomas Caputo, made $344,147 in overtime on top of his base salary of $117,499, according to the report. Read More
E.J. McMahon, who served as a deputy tax commissioner in the administration of former Gov. George Pataki and now is the research director for the Empire Center for Public Policy, an Albany think tank, said STAR has always been about fiscal gimmickry and is going further in that direction. Read More
Fiscal conservatives fault the state prevailing wage requirement for driving up the cost of public infrastructure by double digits. A 2017 Empire Center for Public Policy analysis found the law “drives up total construction costs by 13% to 25%, depending on the region, which will translate into billions of dollars in added taxpayer-funded spending.” Read More
An Empire Center analysis of the latest Census numbers also showed that New York’s educational expenditures are primarily driven by teacher salaries and benefits that are 117 percent above the national average on a per-student basis. Read More
When it comes to outrageous pensions and overtime at the MTA and public entities, we find ourselves at a crossroad. Thanks to the Empire Center for Public Policy's exposé of a railroad worker soaking up $344, 000 in overtime, the iron is suddenly hot for change. Read More
Opponents of a higher minimum wage, like the Empire Center for Public Policy, have argued that a gradual minimum wage increase would increase employer overhead and cost the state up to 200,000 jobs — and at least 11,000 in the Capital Region alone. Read More
The MTA's accountability and time management issues differ with each branch. At New York City Transit, there are questions about whether all employees work their full shifts. Because of the size of those operations, that's where more taxpayer and rider dollars are. At the LIRR, which is governed by the Federal Railway Labor Act, a lack of modern record keeping allows overtime abuses. A report by the Empire Center watchdog organization showed some stunning examples. Read More