(The following article by Caren Halbfinger was published by the White Plains Journal News on May 14.)
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — The executive director of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority yesterday announced proposed changes in the way the agency prepares and reports its budgets, plans a transit riders group said were not far-reaching enough.
The changes are aimed at improving public disclosure of the MTA’s finances and restoring the confidence of the riding public that was lost this year when the agency was accused of altering its books to defend the need for a much-criticized bus, subway and commuter rail fare increase.
Katherine Lapp, the MTA’s executive director, said the reforms would require the agency to submit its preliminary and final budgets much earlier than before, to prepare a four-year, instead of a two-year financial plan, and to post all budget documents with detailed supporting material on its Web site, www.mta.info.
“I am confident,” Lapp said in a written statement, “that this new procedure of four-year financial planning, incorporating periods for public comment and elected official input as well as providing for the posting of all financial and budgetary data on the MTA Web site for public inspection, will reinforce for our over eight million daily customers and our investors that our resources are being used wisely and efficiently.”
The MTA has been heavily criticized for months for failing to disclose a $1 billion deficit until after the fall’s gubernatorial election, then failing to inform the public until the fare increases were approved in March that the deficit was due, in large part, to its own decision to set aside millions of dollars for the next year’s budget. The lack of public financial data drew complaints from the Straphangers Campaign, a transit advocacy group now suing the MTA over its failure to disclose such financial information before approving the fare increases.
“It’s a good first step, but we’re looking for more sweeping changes,” said Gene Russianoff, a staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign. “We’re looking for new checks and balances to make sure the public gets the full story.”
The Straphangers want a new, independent budget office, a computerized registry of all MTA contracts, and a more independent Inspector General’s Office, all measures contained in legislation proposed by Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Greenburgh.
Brodsky likened the MTA’s proposals to “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It’s a smoke screen. They’ve broken their promises to me about negotiating in good faith a real reform package. I’ve been trying to work with them, but that’s not what they want.”
State Sen. David Paterson, the Democratic minority leader who joined the Straphangers’ lawsuit and has introduced MTA reform legislation, praised the agency for addressing some of the group’s concerns.
But, he added, “we still think there should be an oversight panel that consists of a member of the riding public, a representative of the union, and appointees from the governor and the four houses of the (state) Legislature to monitor the fiscal policy and financial records of the MTA, so that when decisions such as a fare increase are made, that we are certain the board gets accurate figures.”
Lapp’s proposal includes periodic updating of the agency’s four-year plan. The agency’s failure to provide such a long-term plan was cited by state Comptroller Alan Hevesi in his agency’s audit of MTA books and by the Straphangers in its lawsuit in state Supreme Court as further evidence of the agency’s failure to adhere to its own financial reporting requirements under state law. A decision is pending in that case.
Lapp also announced the creation of an informal group of advisers, all with New York City budget experience, that would guide the MTA in developing its new reporting procedures, which would be designed to mirror the city’s budget process.
The proposed reforms were announced at a meeting of the agency’s finance committee yesterday. They would take effect immediately if adopted by the MTA board at its next meeting on May 29.