Larry Penner

Growing overtime costs for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s NYC Transit, Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Rail Road employees has been going on for decades.

It has been repeatedly documented by internal MTA, the MTA inspector general, state comptroller, Citizens Budget Commission, Empire Center for Public Policy audits and reports, along with numerous newspaper stories.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, his appointed MTA chair Patrick Foye, and MTA finance committee chair Larry Schwartz’s ongoing outrages on this issue remind me of Capt. Renault in “Casablanca” who said, “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on,” while at the same time collecting his winnings.

Every generation of MTA chairmen, agency presidents, board members, finance officers and executive management who manage agency budgets since the 1980s have made the wrong choice. They believed it would be cheaper to pay overtime than hire additional employees, whose critical specialized skills were necessary for maintaining functioning sage and reliable transportation operations.

They thought it would be less expensive by avoiding the costs of training, full-time salary plus fringe, medical insurance, and pensions by not increasing the head counts of various departments. This has contributed to excessive overtime expenses approaching $1 billion per year rather than hiring additional new employees.

© 2019 The Riverdale Press